Barnes: We're gonna send a message to those lobbyists, down there ...

Former Gov. Roy Barnes has obviously made it official today: He will run for governor.

From a campaign press release:

Former Governor Roy Barnes announced today in Marietta his intentions to become a candidate for governor in 2010 by promising to restore Georgia to its leadership role in education, job creation, and “returning government to the people and out of the hands of the special interests." ...

“Listening is something I didn’t do enough of when I was governor. I tried to do too much, too fast. My heart was in the right place but I was impatient and didn’t consult enough different people outside the Capitol.”

Much of his criticism was aimed at special interests that won too many battles in Atlanta at the expense of working people, families, and children. “The lobbyists in their tassel loafers with their eel skin briefcases have too much influence on our lives, how much we pay for electricity and how well our children are educated in the public schools.”

“The special interests get the bailouts and our people get higher taxes and the crumbs that fall from their banquet table. Georgia needs somebody to balance the scales, to stand up for them,” the former governor said.

He said there was plenty of blame to go around and referred to Democrats, Republicans, and again, the lobbyists who have too much power.

Damn lobbyists. We elect all these politicians to make decisions, we pay government employees to implement policies, we have multi-billion-dollar media corporations to hold them accountable, we hold elections every two years and those damn lobbyists still manage to screw everything up.

There must be some kind of magic in those tasseled loafers.


This episode gets more relevant every day.