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When Nathan Deal won the Republican nomination, I thought it was a joke. Deal was named one of the top 15 most corrupt people in Congress and had to vacate his seat to avoid ethics charges. The man who loaned his son-in-law $5 million dollars then didn't feel inclined to ensure his money was safe. This man was running for governor.
My next thought was surely the people of Georgia are smart enough to not elect him. I was wrong. Go by any school and you will see countless "Teachers for Deal" bumper stickers. The people who are supposed to be smart enough to educate our children voted for this man. If that doesn't show how horrible our education system in Georgia is, I don't know what does.
Now here we are and what has Mr. Deal done for Georgians? Absolutely nothing. Deal has stripped our already failing education system, which is ranked 45th in the nation, to the bones. Our educators are losing money and our children are the ones who are going to suffer. College prices have gone up and HOPE has gone down, making college near impossible for many young people.
Deal has supported massive tax breaks, which he promised during the campaign. That is good right? Wrong, unless of course you make $180,000 plus per year, which accounts for about 5 percent of Georgians with our average household income coming in at a whopping $35,490 a year.
The tax cuts proposed cut taxes for those lucky enough to make more than $180,000 a year but make up the difference by eliminating a bunch of tax exemptions and imposing increases in sales tax resulting in a tax hike for people making between $20,000 and $180,000 a year. Deal has also allowed a 3-cent gas tax increase when gas is already nearing $4 a gallon, when he could have easily issued an executive order to freeze it, as his predecessor Sonny Perdue did in 2008.
Well, at least Deal has not done anything shady, right? Wrong again. During his campaign, he hired his daughter-in-law. No big deal. What he forgot to mention was that he also hired her new company, Southern Magnolia Capital.
This is who we elected fellow Georgians. This is the man that we have entrusted with the future of our state. Please wake up people.
If you are reading this Gov. Deal, I have your re-election slogan picked out for you: "Nathan Deal: Proving to the rest of the world that Georgians really are that stupid."
Richie Fearn
Clermont