Statue of Governor Miller a Stately Capitol Idea
So, The Georgia House wants to give Zell Bryan Miller a statue. Bravo! They should. They should authorize a statue of Governor Miller.
Mr. Miller was not only among Georgia’s finest Governors, but it was as Governor that Mr. Miller was at his finest as a public servant. He was worse both prior to and after he left the house on West Paces Ferry rd.
Prior to being Governor, Mr. Miller was among the longest serving Lt. Governors ever. He worked for Lester Maddox, supported segregation, and created a bitter rivalry with then Speaker Tom Murphy that he could not get over until he was Governor. After leaving office, he went into the United States Senate and became an advocate for unfettered Presidential Power. His efforts have now come home to roost.
Mr. Miller’s time as Governor, however, was a time of excellence, and in making the statue… and the plaque that will surely go with it, is those days from 1990 to 1999 that should be remembered.
Governor Miller appointed Justice Leah Sears Ward to the High Court. He made Justice Charles Weltner the Chief Justice. He appointed Thurbert Baker to be his floor leader and then Attorney General. He worked to bring the Olympics here, tried to change the flag to something we could all live with and created the lottery to fund the HOPE Scholarships. All this while keeping the Budget in check, building up rainy day supplies, and making serious efforts to reform the way government worked in Georgia. In short, he was a very strong conservative southern Democratic Governor. He even gave Bill Clinton’s nomination speech.
It is a shame what age and Washington D.C. living can do to people. Mr. Miller’s service in Washington coincided with a wholesale strengthening of his religious faith. The sincerity of that faith is beyond doubt, but the changes in policy it caused Senator Miller to advocate are dubious. Senator Miller believes the government has a right to intrude into people’s lives to ‘protect them’ from themselves. He believes in a nearly unfettered executive branch, and believes that we should have gone into Iraq. He regrettably drank the Bush kool-aid.
It’s worth remembering the Governor who did great things and kept government from intruding in our lives. Let us honor Democratic Governor Zell Miller.
February 2nd, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Extending this argument to its logical conclusion, why not erect a statue of Linda Shrenko in front of the Education Department? While she was in office she shrank the size of the bureacracy of the State Department of Education and heck, we pulled solidly ahead of Mississippi in SAT scores. It was just during her ill fated campaign for Governor that she spent money meant for def children on a face lift.
And as for his tenure as Governor, let’s recall that Zell didn’t actually change the flag, he just talked about it then caved when the polls showed a lack of support. The people he appointed are worthy becasue of their own merit, not his. He did create a concept for a state lottery to fund education, but it was the voters that approved it.
Perhaps we should build a statue of Zell on the capitol, it just ought to be a weather vane.
February 2nd, 2007 at 6:14 pm
…and Schrenko would have been meaningless if a governor hadn’t cracked the whip on the BoE.
I agree with Robert on this one.