The

public and party regulars gathered at Baci

Italian Restaurant recently to listen to and

question incumbent state Sen. Rick Price and his

three challengers.

The

short, informal Senate District 28 forum was

hosted by the Fayette County Republican Party at

its monthly First Saturday breakfast. Senate

District 28 encompasses a small portion of

Fayette County including Peachtree City, all of

Coweta County and all of Spalding County.

Price,

Charlie Harper, Dan Lakly and Mitch Seabaugh

answered questions from the audience regarding

Gov. Roy Barnes' recent education bill, the

Atlanta Regional Commission, the Georgia Regional

Transportation Authority and the Georgia flag.

Throughout

the forum Price asserted he is proud of his

record during his two terms. He was challenged

regarding his procedural votes on two main bills,

the governor's education bill and creation of

GRTA.

While

Price ultimately voted against both bills,

Harper, Lakly and Seabaugh indicated they would

have voted against the bills throughout the

process. Price defended his earlier votes to

"study the issues" or to "bring

them out of committee," noting that it was

his job to take poor legislation, that would pass

with a Democratic majority in power, and make it

better.

All

four asserted that they would not support any

legislation to change the state flag. Seabaugh

said that proponents of taking the Confederate

battle emblem off the state flag are trying to

make it a racial issue. Harper stated that

"pressure to change the flag is led by

outsiders trying to drive a wedge."

Price

answered simply "No," and gave a brief

background on the recent history of the flag, and

Lakly, referring to Zell Miller's attempt to

change the flag in 1993, said, "They didn't

change it then and they won't change it

now." He further noted that changing the

flag "takes the focus off things that are

important."

Price

was questioned regarding his stance on the

Atlanta Regional Commission. He has been attacked

recently by his Senate challengers regarding the

vote to include Fayette County in the ARC during

his term on the Fayette County Commission. Price

said he abstained from the vote and did not vote

to include Fayette as asserted, later noting he

did not believe there had been sufficient

information provided to the commission to allow

him to vote in good conscience.

Lakly,

who served on the County Commission at the same

time, interjected that he (Lakly) had made the

motion and voted for inclusion because, "We

had two choices: to be part of the regional

commission centered in Barnesville or in

Atlanta."

He

said he felt Fayette was closer aligned to

Atlanta than Lamar County. Harper continued to

assert that Price had voted for inclusion,

referring to commission minutes while Seabaugh,

who lives in Coweta County, talked about positive

leadership.

All

of the candidates voiced opposition to GRTA and

the ARC's current proposals regarding rapid rail,

higher density and what they perceived to be a

lessening of local government's ability to

control local issues. Price said, "Local

government is the best government." Lakly

spoke against the "usurping of county

authority" and said, "No thank you to

rapid rail and rapid density." Lakly also

said he would make his first campaign promise,

which would be to "introduce legislation to

repeal [regional development commissions]."

Regarding

Bill 1187, the education reform bill, Harper said

he was "opposed from beginning to end."

Lakly noted he would have "fought with every

breath of my body [against the bill]."

Seabaugh stated the bill did not help education

and he would have voted against it. Price voted

against the final bill.

<!--

-----------