A former Georgia House Majority Leader once told his caucus “Never confuse what you do when campaigning with what you (have to) do when governing.”  There is some wisdom in this statement. What voters demand they be told in order for candidates to be elected and re-elected is often very different from the hard choices that must be made when governing.

This is not to feed a trope that says “politicians always say one thing and do another”. It’s instead to demonstrate that slogans and actions now live in almost parallel universes, where campaigns are centered on feelings. It’s the job of those elected to channel these vibes into actual policies. 

Campaigns are designed to show you, the voters, how you will be winners. The missing details would show tradeoffs – what must be given up in order to get something.  In campaigns these details become lines of attack for the opposition. Good policy can often die due to a bad campaign.

The Georgia General Assembly is now officially in the process of governing. The one constitutional requirement is that they deliver a balanced budget to the Governor at the end of their session. Anything else they choose to tackle is up to them.

The process of campaigns is also ongoing. Many of the state’s top positions are without incumbents.  Qualifying officially occurs the first week of March, inside the Capitol. 

The first week of March also contains “Crossover Day”, the deadline for a bill to pass either chamber for it to be considered by the other this year. As such, the politics of campaigning now marches side by side with the politics of governing. Broad and purposely vague slogans will meet those details that not only will determine spending and policy for this year, but will set up the base spending scenarios for those soon to be elected.

Despite campaign influences, the governing process remains the same. In the middle of this mix, the power subtly shifts.

Governor Brian Kemp holds line-item veto power, lest any legislator get the idea that he’s irrelevant in this process.  And yet, the final accountability for the finished product will lay at the feet of those who remain in office next year.

Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones hopes to hold that veto pen next year, while presiding over the Senate chamber this year. Central to his campaign is a plan to eliminate the state’s income tax over time, with the first step to exempt each individual’s first $50,000 of income from taxation. A lot of the details of where the spending would be cut or what other revenues would be raised and from whom would presumably come once Jones has the Governor’s mansion – and the power of the veto pen.

House Speaker Jon Burns, meanwhile, wants to eliminate property taxes for Georgia’s homeowners. This comes from growing frustrations with local governments who both collect and spend property tax revenues, and have allowed rising real estate prices to grow their tax collections and local spending. 

The details for either plan will eventually have to come out in the state’s budget. Each Appropriations Chairman will work with his committees to arrive not only at a budget for this year, but with eyes looking through to next year’s challenges and changes, and beyond.

The Senate Budget Chairman responsible for reconciling these pledges into details is Blake Tillery of Vidalia. He, too, is running for a different office. By anecdotal accounts and the sparce public polling available, he seems to be doing well in the crowded field to replace Jones as the Lieutenant Governor. He also chaired the LG’s committee on how to eliminate the state income tax. 

There is no policy daylight between the Lt Governor who would be Governor and the Appropriations Chairman who would replace him on the issue of phasing out the income tax. Both are charting their political futures on it, with the power of their current office part of the institutional process to help get them there.  

There is always risk in future elections of who holds power now versus who might in the future.  The other side of this risk coin is the House Appropriations Chairman, Matt Hatchett of Dublin. Given the high likelihood that Republicans will retain control of the legislature after the elections, he’s the most certain of those in the budget process to be in the same seat – and to wield the same power. 

Those campaigning for statewide office will get the most headlines, and they should. Within the Capitol, however, stability and certainty are currency. Both Appropriations Chairmen hold an outsized amount of power and influence over the entire legislative process that extends well beyond the budget. 

Chairman Tillery has a decent chance to direct not just the Budget but the entire Senate next year. In the Capitol’s power players, that gives him currency now with an upside option for the future. 

When it comes to landing the plane with details this year and next, however, don’t sleep on Matt Hatchett. He’s the one who must internalize that this year’s details will become next year’s problems or opportunities.

His peers know he’ll be acting today for the starting point they will begin with this time next year, under new leadership with new goals and agendas. They understand and value this stability in a season of change. That directly equates to even more political power.