Sonny Perdue
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| Sonny Perdue | |
| Image:GovSonnyPerdue.jpg | |
| | |
| January 2003 – present | |
| Lieutenant Governor: | Mark Taylor (2003- present) Casey Cagle (elected) |
|---|---|
| Predecessor: | Roy Barnes |
| Successor: | Incumbent |
| Born: | December 20, 1946 Perry, Georgia |
| Political party: | Republican |
| Profession: | Agribusiness, Veterinarian |
| Spouse: | Mary Ruff Perdue |
| Religion: | Baptist |
George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III (born December 20, 1946) is the current governor of the U.S. state of Georgia. Upon his inauguration in January 2003, he became the first Republican governor of Georgia since Benjamin Conley at the end of Reconstruction in the 1870s.
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[edit] Personal
Perdue was born in Perry, Georgia and grew up in Houston County, Georgia, near Bonaire. His father was a farmer and his mother was a teacher. As a youngster he flew a crop duster and has maintained his pilot's license since.
Perdue has been known as Sonny since childhood and prefers to be called by that name (he signs official documents as "Sonny Perdue").
Perdue played quarterback in high school and was a walk-on at the University of Georgia.
Perdue was in the Air Force rising to the rank of Captain before his discharge.
In 1971 he earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine and worked as a veterinarian before becoming a small business owner, eventually starting three small businesses.
Perdue and his wife, Mary, were married in 1972. They have four children (two boys and two girls) and five grandchildren, and have also been foster parents for eight children.
In addition to flying, Perdue is also an avid sportsman.
[edit] Political history
Perdue won a Georgia state senate seat in 1992 as a Democrat. He switched to the Republican party in 1997. [1]
[edit] Election to governor
Perdue was elected Governor of Georgia in November 2002, defeating incumbent Democrat Roy Barnes, 52% to 46% in a three way race. His victory was widely regarded as an upset. The campaign focused largely on perceived abuses of power by Barnes, including changing the state flag without a referendum, as well as poor test scores in Georgia schools.
As Governor, Perdue is a member of the National Governors Association, the Southern Governors' Association, and the Republican Governors Association.
[edit] Actions as governor
Perdue's main focus in office has been on reforming state government, improving education, and growing the state's economy. Perdue has advocated for comprehensive ethics reform legislation, and has instituted a series of reforms designed to cut waste in government, most notably the sale of surplus vehicles and real estate. (Prior to Perdue's becoming governor, no state agency had even compiled an inventory of what assets the state owned, much less managed them.)
In education, Perdue has focused on returning decision-making to the local level. Despite his beliefs in localism, however, Perdue has not opposed efforts by the Legislature to mandate increased extracurricular paperwork to thwart the founding of support clubs for teenage homosexual students. Since Perdue took office, Georgia briefly moved out of last place in SAT scores; though it returned to last place in 2005, in 2006 Georgia rose to 46th place.
[edit] Controversies
[edit] State flag
In 1956, Georgia added the "St. Andrews Cross" Confederate Battle Flag emblem to its state flag. The stated purpose for this change was that the cross was a "Living Memorial to Georgia's Confederate Dead", in anticipation of the American Civil War centennial. However, given its incorporation shortly following the landmark desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the change is believed by some to have been done as a protest to the Supreme Court's desegregation of public schools.
Governor Barnes had successfully pressed the state legislature to change the flag; the new version featured the state seal on a blue field with a bottom row of small previous state and national flags. This change proved unpopular, and signs calling on voters to "Boot Barnes" popped up throughout rural areas of the state. During his campaign, Perdue denounced Barnes and Democratic state legislators for changing the state flag. Perdue's strong opposition to this change, labeled by some as "race baiting" and "Good ol' Boyism," contributed to his unexpected defeat of Barnes.
Having won office after promising to let the citizens of Georgia vote to determine their flag, Perdue signed legislation for a flag referendum in 2004. The bill, passed in 2003, also implemented a new flag, essentially a slight modification of the State Flag that flew prior to 1956, itself a modified version of the original Confederate "Stars and Bars."
The referendum did not include Georgia's previous 1956-2001 flag as an option, and was denounced as a promise-breaking sham by many who had voted for Perdue. The referendum had the lowest voter turnout in twenty years, with only a 20% turn out. Of those who voted, three fourths (15% of registered voters) chose to keep in place the "Perdue flag" of 2003.
After the 2004 referendum, "Boot Barnes" has been replaced by "Punt Perdue". Also appearing after the referendum was the 1956 flag with the words "Let Us Vote" and at the bottom in much larger print, "SONNY LIED", something that Doug Monroe of Atlanta's Creative Loafing called the new "Official State Sign of Georgia."
[edit] Land purchases
Unlike recent Georgia governors, such as Joe Frank Harris, Zell Miller, and Barnes, Perdue chose not to place his assets into a blind trust when he took office. Perdue has noted that there is no law requiring him to place his assets in a blind trust. He also argued that such trusts have not performed well when they involve existing businesses, such as his grain and fertilizer company.<ref name="AJC-9-2-06">James Salzer, "Perdue invests close to home: Governor appears to ignore his rationale in Florida deal, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 2, 2006</ref>
[edit] Georgia
In mid-2003, Perdue purchased 101 acres of land next to his Houston County home, for $303,000, after negotiating directly with the owner. The purchase was done using a limited liability company named Maryson LLC, a corporation formed on July 23, 2003.<ref name="AJC-10-28-06">Ken Foskett, "Perdue failed to disclose land buy near prized tract: Acreage next to the governor's Houston County home abuts a pristine forest that's slated for major development", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 28, 2006</ref> Maryson's registered agent was Stephan Holcomb, a Houston County dentist. Perdue appointed Holcomb, a neighbor of the governor's sister in Houston County, to the state Board of Dentistry in 2003. The lawyer who organized Maryson LLC was state representative Larry O'Neal (R-Warner Robins), the chairman of the Ways & Means committee of the House.<ref name="AJC-9-2-06"/> Perdue paid the 2003 tax bill on the property after it was acquired by Maryson, Houston County tax records show.
In May 2004, the land was transferred from Maryson to Purdue's own name.<ref name="AJC-10-28-06"/> The transfer price was recorded at $305,000. Maryson was dissolved on July 9, 2005, a year after the sale.<ref name="AJC-9-2-06"/>
Perdue failed to disclose the property or any interest in Maryson on his financial disclosure forms for calendar years 2003 and 2004, as required by Georgia law.<ref name="AJC-10-28-06"/> Five days after Maryson was incorporated in 2003, O'Neal also incorporated a partnership for Perdue and his wife, Mary, called Perdue Plantation LLC, according to the Secretary of State's Office. This partnership also was not listed on Perdue's 2004 financial disclosure report. The Secretary of State's Office said an official is required to report ownership or a fiduciary position in a company.<ref name="AJC-9-2-06"/>
The property, just south of Perdue's Bonaire home, has more than doubled in value between 2004 and 2006, according to tax records.<ref name="AJC-9-2-06"/>
In September 2006, Perdue refused to comment on the purchase. His spokesman, Derrick Dickey, would not answer questions about the land deal, other than to say: "The governor purchased a tract of land that adjoins his home. He intends to keep that land in his home place." Citing attorney-client privilege, O'Neal also refused to discuss the 2004 land transfer.<ref name="AJC-9-2-06"/>
[edit] Florida
In 2004, Perdue sold 318 acres of Houston County property that he and his sister had inherited. With money from the sale, In Perdue bought 19.5 acres of Florida land near Disney World in late 2004, paying $2 million. He told the Associated Press, the day after a newspaper reported on the purchase, that he had purchased out-of-state land because "If I bought land within 100 miles of a new road construction [in Georgia], I'd be accused by the other side of influencing that."
The 20-acre tract is surrounded by pricey development and is near I-4 and a new toll road leading to Disney World. Perdue said he had no plans to develop the land, even though half-acre lots nearby sell for upwards of $650,000. The price per developable acre that Perdue paid was about the same as the price the seller had paid for the property a few months earlier.
The governor bought the Florida land from Newnan developer Stanley Thomas. Perdue had appointed Thomas to the state's economic development board in 2003. A month after Perdue bought the Florida property, O'Neal sponsored a bill to allow Georgians who sell property in the state and buy out-of-state property to defer capital gains taxes. The new tax break allowed Perdue to defer paying $100,000 to the state of Georgia.<ref name="AJC-9-2-06"/>
Before being passed, the bill was amended in March 2005 to make it retroactive to January 1, 2004, by the state senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Casey Cagle (R-Gainesville). Cagle, who won the 2006 lieutenant governor race and will take office January 2007, said in an interview in August 2006 that the Department of Revenue had requested the change. Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham, the head of that department, says his department made no such request.<ref>Jay Bookman, "How tax law saved Perdue $100,000", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 31, 2006</ref>
[edit] 2006 re-election campaign
Perdue's Democratic opponent in the November 2006 general election was Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor. Libertarian Garrett Michael Hayes was also on the ballot. Sonny Perdue was proclaimed the winner, early, with 65% of the vote with only 12 percent of the precincts reporting.
[edit] Trivia
Perdue will play the role of an East Carolina University football coach in the movie We Are Marshall, portions of which were filmed in Georgia. [2]
On October 2, 2006 the character of Early Cuyler on Squidbillies wore a hat where the Confederate flag framed Perdue's opponent's slogan of "Sonny Lied".
[edit] References
<references/>
[edit] External links
- Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue
- Perdue for a New Georgia
- Project Vote Smart - Political Profile
- Georgia Heritage Council
- Saturdays With Sonny
- Commission for a New Georgia
- Perdue's Failures
- Georgia Secretary of State Voting Results March 2004 Referendum
- SONNY LIED: The Official Georgia State Sign
- Sonny Perdue is Cheap
- Alumni Man of the Year Award
| Preceded by: Roy Barnes | Governor of Georgia 2003 – present | Incumbent |
