There is a lot of uproar in

Spalding County - and in the surrounding counties

(including Clayton, Coweta and Fayette) which are served

state's recently-adopted supplemental budget did not

include the $9.8 million in construction funding for a

new classroom building on that technical school's campus.

The project had been the

number one request on the list of funding priorities

submitted by the Georgia Department of Adult and

Technical Education and it was specifically endorsed by

Gov. Roy Barnes in his annual budget speech.

Thus, when the state house

of representatives passed their version of the

supplemental budget - and it did not include the

funds for the project - there was immediate

scrambling in the state senate to insure the funding was

restored there.

However, the final version

of the supplemental budget which emerged from the

conference committee and was adopted in both chambers

before being sent to the governor's desk for his

signature did not include any money for Griffin Tech and

a half-hearted attempt to put the project in the

"big" budget for Fiscal Year 2001 also failed.

The much-needed project at

the local technical school (which is the fastest growing

in the state) was put on hold for at least another year.

Now, it should be pointed

out that this is not the first time a worthwhile project

(which was undeniably important to the area in which it

was located) has been delayed for a year, or more, due to

budgetary compromises.

And, it is interesting to

note that almost the exact amount of money needed to fund

the Griffin Tech project was used by state lawmakers to

fund the completely unexpected and absolutely necessary

clean-up work following the devastating tornadoes which

tore through South Georgia this year.

So, why was the money for

the Griffin Tech project dropped from the supplemental

budget this year?

Some folks say it was due

to the fact that House Speaker Thomas B. Murphy does not

like the two state legislators from Spalding County, John

Yates and Bill Sanders.

That may be part of it.

And, if it is, it is

completely understandable - no matter how painful to

the local economy that might be to accept.

For, Mr. Yates and Mr.

Sanders have done little to endear themselves to the

Speaker or the other members of the House leadership.

Speaker Murphy is only

human - and when you have two legislators who spend

much of their time verbally attacking every decision made

heads that leadership structure, as well as his

colleagues among the chairmen and chairwomen of the House

committees - then you have to expect some response.

(Indeed, I cannot think of

any other reason that Mr. Yates and Mr. Sanders spend so

much time attacking the speaker and the governor unless

they are trying to get them to respond in such a way that

it makes the people being attacked looked worse than the

attackers!)

But, before too many people

begin accepting the portrait of Mr. Yates and Mr. Sanders

as martyrs to the cause of "standing up for one's

beliefs," remember that legislators are elected to

meet the needs of their districts.

Winning legislative

approval for funding the expansion project at Griffin

Tech was the key need of Spalding County and one of the

few specific agenda items local citizens have put before

the legislature in recent years.

Now, I respect both Mr.

Yates and Mr. Sanders as much as I disagree with their

stone-throwing tactics.

But, the bottom line is

that when push came to shove, Mr. Yates and Mr. Sanders

failed their constituency: In this instance, they proved

themselves to be completely ineffective in dealing with

the powers that be who ultimately made the decision about

funding - and, therefore, they were useless.

The expansion project at

Griffin Tech is still important, it still needs to be

funded, and, hopefully, it will be during next year's

budget process.

But, Mr. Yates and Mr.

Sanders have proven that they are not the ones who can

get the job done.

[Lee N. Howell is an

award-winning writer who has been observing and

commenting upon politics and society in the Southern

Crescent, the state, and nation for more than a quarter

of a century.]