Ronald Reagan is often quoted as saying, “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is an 80 percent friend and not a 20 percent enemy.” It’s not a bad guide. The problem is that so many alleged “Republicans” in the legislature do not adhere to Republican principles from our platform even 80% of the time!

You can test that by looking at their voting score in each legislative session. Last year, only three Republicans in the state legislature scored above 80 percent. Most scored less than 50 percent! That’s just dismal.

With Crossover Day looming Thursday, so-called “Republicans” in the legislature once again have the opportunity to “earn their stripes” or “pay their dues” (and all those other kinds of phrases they like to throw at the grassroots volunteers who campaign for them) by proving they really are Republicans. They need to do it by voting for Republican policies and against Democrat policies.

But so far overall during this year’s legislative session, the Republican majority in the state legislature is not giving us much reason to be impressed.

One of the absurd bills presented by a group of four “Republican” legislators and a Democrat was H.B. 1117, which would have empowered non-citizens to become law-enforcement officers! Thankfully, due to outcry from the grassroots, the sponsors of this bill withdrew it from consideration.

Sen. Colton Moore the Only Senator to Vote “No” to $5 Billion Spending Increase

As another example, however, last week the State Senate passed a $5 Billion SPENDING INCREASE, which will eventually fall back on Georgia taxpayers to foot the bill, even while we have a surplus of funds taken from taxpayers to increase the state’s reach in expanding government programs.

At least ONE State Senator said “NO!” Thank you to GRA-endorsed State Senator Colton Moore (R-Dade) for being a true principled Republican! Bold and brave is how we should be, so we can fight the overspending of our civil government!

Some legislators claimed they had no choice but to vote for the budget since it is an omnibus, blaming the Governor. But Republicans in the Senate could have compelled the Governor to the bargaining table by voting the proposed budget down.

Many will recall that Senator Moore was kicked out of the Senate Republican Caucus by caucus leaders who love to quote Reagan’s 80% rule when it benefits them, but refuse to apply it to themselves when dealing with a more conservative Republican. They have still not made any apologies to Senator Moore or readmitted him back into the caucus even though his serious concerns about corrupt Democrat D.A. Fani Willis continue to be validated.

H.B. 986 with Its Anti-Free Speech Provisions Passes Thanks to Help from the Uniparty

Yet another nasty piece of legislation that passed the State House a few days ago over protests from the GA Freedom Caucus was H.B. 986. As Mallory Staples reported, this bill includes provisions to cancel citizens who exercise their free speech rights to critique candidates during an election.

We already have safeguards in the law against defamation, slander, and libel. But his statute could empower the state to silence critics of incumbents in a timely fashion as an election approaches. It sounds like it was written by the same statist liberals who have been leading the cancel culture for Facebook and Twitter the last few elections. Forget about Facebook jail. These folks want to send you to actual jail!

Thanks to State Reps. Charlice Byrd (R-Cherokee), Carter Barrett (R-Forsyth), Johnny Chastain (R-Blue Ridge), Brent Cox (R-Dawsonville), Emory Dunahoo (R-Gillsville), Chris Erwin (R-Homer), Matthew Gambill (R-Cartersville), Mitchell Horner (R-Ringgold), Rey Martinez (R-Loganville), Danny Mathis (R-Cochran), Martin Momtahan (R-Dallas), and Rick Townsend (R-Brunswick) for voting against this bad bill. That’s only 13 Republicans to vote “no” out of the 100 in the caucus. The bill passed due to support from Democrats and the other so-called “Republicans.”

Call your state senators and urge them to kill this bill when it reaches their chamber.

OTHER KEY LEGISLATION

While the RINO majority in control of the state legislature is using their power to railroad bad statist bills like these above through, many other good bills in sync with Republican principles are being stalled — not even being allowed a hearing or vote in committee in most cases! 

Thursday is Crossover Day, and that is important because it is the last day a bill can clear its originating chamber and move to the other chamber for consideration. Meaning, if a bill fails to pass one chamber before the end of Crossover Day, it will not be passed this legislative session. Here are some key bills:

• S.B. 416 — Sponsored by Sen. Colton Moore, this bill would reform the RICO law in GA to make it hard for corrupt district attorneys like Fani Willis to use the law to harass people on frivolous charges. 

• S.B. 88 — This legislation would prevent school personnel from promoting ideas on gender identity and transition without parents’ informed consent. Learn more here.

• H.B. 897 — Known as the “Medical Freedom Act,” this bill would restore the freedom of Georgians to make their own health decisions. Unfortunately, this bill is stuck in Rep. Sharon Cooper‘s (R-Cobb) Public Health Committee, and if it does not get a hearing it will die.

• H.B. 496 & H.R. 413 — Sponsored by State Reps. Charlice Byrd and Emory Dunahoo, these pieces of legislation would protect all the preborn from murder from the moment of fertilization. But both the Prenatal Equal Protection Act and the state constitutional amendment equivalent have been ignored by Cobb County’s Sharon Cooper, who chairs the Public Health Committee. She will not even allow them a hearing.

• S.B. 67 — Known as the Second Amendment Preservation Act, this legislation would ban any public officer or employee of the state and its political subdivisions from enforcing any past, present, or future federal “acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, rules and regulations” that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms. It was reassigned to a new committee so it would have a hearing, but it continues to be ignored.

• H.B. 17 & H.B. 426 — Although there are a plethora of election reform bills that have been submitted (some of them good, and some of them dangerous), these are two bills that our friends at VoterGA have highlighted for support to better secure chain of custody for ballots and ensure ballots are not destroyed or tampered with when verification has not been completed. 

• H.B. 1105 — This legislation would institute criminal penalties for sanctuary cities of illegal aliens in Georgia. It has been reported that 182 illegals are currently in Georgia jails for murder — just like what happened to Laken Hope Riley.

Contact your elected officials in both the State House and the State Senate and urge them to pass these valuable pieces of legislation through their chamber before the conclusion of Crossover Day. If they do not support them, they deserve to be primaried.

Although some folks like to say that the main objective of the Republican Party is to ensure people with a “Republican” label on the ballot win elections, that is not true. Elections are only a means to an end. The actual main objective of the Republican Party is to enact Republican principles and policies into law. If we’re not accomplishing that — no matter how many elections we’ve won — then we are actually losing. In fact, we are doubly losing because we are voluntarily giving up our time, energy, money, and talent to help the enemy achieve their objectives! Let that sink in. 

Republicans have had majority control of the Georgia state legislature for roughly 20 years. We should have been advancing Republican principles by leaps and bounds during that time. But why does it seem its Democrats who are so often getting their way?

Therefore, as we approach candidate qualifying the first full week of March, and the kickoff to primary season, we encourage new candidates to challenge many of the RINO incumbents in our legislature. We also encourage our local Republican Assembly chapters to hold endorsement conventions and support candidates who can beat bad incumbents. Finally, we encourage local GOP organizations to refuse to allow incumbents with voting records blatantly contrary to Republican policies and principles to qualify to run again as Republicans. Just stop feeding the RINOs.