Governor Sonny Perdue (R) - Georgia

By: Krystle Russin

Atlanta, Georgia - He resigned as state senator after announcing his candidacy, won with the campaign motto, “Integrity, Trust, Leadership,” and now, Gov. Sonny Perdue (R-GA) has been in office for almost a year.  When visiting state capitols, many things are said about those who hold office, but inside the Georgia Capitol, it is difficult to hear negative comments about Perdue.

            “He’s very nice,” say Capitol staff in the lobby.  “He’s a very genuine person, always saying hi to people and talking to them.”

            “I think that’s why he won,” says another.

            An interesting fact about Perdue is that unlike many Republicans, he was once a Democrat.  When he announced in 1998 that he no longer intended to run as a Democrat, disappointed by what he thought was the party’s unwillingness to change, the party took away almost everything from him except holding public office as state senator.  Though the Democrats were expecting to unseat him, he proved them wrong by being reelected with 70 percent of the vote.

            Something else unique is that Perdue has created is setting aside time to meet Georgians face to face in weekend meetings called, “Saturday with Sonny.”

“Citizens have brought to my attention a multitude of different issues during the ‘Saturday with Sonny’ sessions.  And the issues range from personal issues, such as difficulty with a college transfer, to larger policy issues, such as foster care.  Overall, I have been very impressed with the quality of issues that have been brought to my attention.”

Perdue mentioned that he hopes to use his experiences in the legislature to benefit Georgians as Governor.

“The obvious benefit of having served in the General Assembly for 11 years is the complete knowledge of the legislative process - its rhythms, its fluid nature, its parlance.  Having been a leader in the State Senate for four years, I know the budget firsthand…I understand the old ways, and I know that so much must change with the way we conduct business.

“Being in the body, both in the majority and the minority, gives me a healthy respect for the legislative branch.  There are plenty of worthy ideas that I championed while in the Senate, but they never made it out of committee.  I plan to continue the fight for those issues.”

Q: Besides caring for your own family and two grandchildren, you and your wife, Mary, "serve as foster parents for newborns awaiting adoption."  What message do you hope this brings to Georgians about adoption?

A: My wife, Mary, and I served as foster parents for eight newborns awaiting adoption from 1998 to 2000. This was a wonderful experience for our entire family and gave Mary and I exposure to the foster care system.  There are approximately 14,000 children in state custody in Georgia and 2300 children that are awaiting adoption.  In May, I signed into law Senate Bill 236, which gives foster parents the opportunity to provide current, critical information about the needs and best interests of the foster children in their care.  Mary has recently launched the First Lady’s Our Children Campaign to mobilize community resources on behalf of Georgia’s children in state custody.  Mary and I want to encourage all Georgians to get involved in helping these children.  Serving as foster parents and adopting children is a definite need in this state and we want to let all Georgians know what a rewarding experience it can be.  We also want to let people know that there are many other ways to get involved in helping these children as well.  Children have been and will continue to be top priority in my administration.

Mary and I have recently been blessed with a third grandchild, Jack.

Q: How do you plan to take your experience in the State Senate and use it to accomplish more for Georgia over the next four years?

A: The obvious benefit of having served in the General Assembly for 11 years is the complete knowledge of the legislative process - its rhythms, its fluid nature, its parlance.  Having been a leader in the State Senate for four years, I know the budget firsthand.  I served on the six-person conference committee that wrote the ultimate budget.  I understand what is right with the way we draft a budget...and perhaps unfortunately to some, I know what is broken with the process.  I understand the old ways, and I know that so much must change with the way we conduct business.

Being in the body, both in the majority and the minority, gives me a healthy respect for the legislative branch.  There are plenty of worthy ideas that I championed while in the Senate, but they never made it out of committee.  I plan to continue the fight for those issues.

Q: "Saturdays with Sonny" is probably one of the only programs in the country where a governor sets aside time to meet with people of his or her state.  What have you typically heard from Georgians on Saturdays?  Are there some other times you remember being made aware of a problem that you might not have heard about if you didn't have the program?

A: I look forward to each ‘Saturday with Sonny’ because of the opportunity to hear first hand from constituents around the state.  Citizens have brought to my attention a multitude of different issues during the ‘Saturday with Sonny’ sessions.  And the issues range from personal issues, such as difficulty with a college transfer, to larger policy issues, such as foster care.  Overall, I have been very impressed with the quality of issues that have been brought to my attention.

Q: When you were asked to run for State Senate, what made you want to say yes to the idea?  What were some of the controversial issues at the time, and how did they have an effect on your campaign?

A: I was approached to run for the General Assembly after our long-time state senator decided rather unexpectedly to retire.  For the decade preceding my campaign, I had served on the Houston County Planning and Zoning Commission.  Because of my work on the commission, several folks approached me and said that I would make a viable, solid candidate for the Senate.  That particular district was heavily anchored in my native Houston County, but because of my agribusiness, I knew the smaller, more rural counties quite well.  I felt uniquely qualified to represent a dynamic district that combined a rapidly growing economy based on the military and industry with continued strong reliance on its agricultural roots.

After my wife and I prayed about and sought the counsel of family and friends, I decided that I could best serve the people of my home as their state senator.  So I threw my hat in the ring, survived the primary, and won the general election.

My election took place in 1990, the same year that Zell Miller won his first term as governor of Georgia.  He and Johnny Isakson, the Republican nominee, framed the debate throughout our state.  The most heated issue during the entire campaign cycle was Miller's call for a statewide lottery and the subsequent discussion on exactly how the money would be spent.  But Miller also proposed boot camps for drug offenders and a complete overhaul of the budget process.  All of these issues weighed on the minds of District 18 voters, but, as with most elections, the state of the economy predominated.  Recall that November 1990 was only two months before the United States commenced hostilities against Iraq during the Persian Gulf War, and the State's economy had already started to falter.  In less than a year, we would be in Atlanta in the heat of the summer, lopping hundreds of millions of dollars from the budget.

Q: Your parents were a farmer and a teacher, and you probably wouldn't have expected that you would one day become governor.  How does your background give you a different perspective than if you had grown up being surrounded in politics?

A: The environment in which they grow up and mature influences everyone.  For me, I lived in a rural county in central Georgia, away from the hustle-bustle of Atlanta.  Our politics was, indeed, local.  We knew personally the members of the school board and the county commission.  No one was a professional politician; you worshipped with the leaders on Sunday and went the high school football games with them on Friday.  Most every member of my extended family was within a short drive of my home.  We were close-knit and close to the earth, but not close-minded. I grew up in the shadow of Robins AFB, where people from all around the United States, with their various accents and beliefs and customs, came to serve.

Specifically, though, from my father, I learned the seminal value of stewardship.  In addition to the acreage on our family farm, we often rented adjacent land to turn an extra crop or two.  My father, without fail, treated another person's land with greater care than he did our own land.  He taught me that when you are trusted with somebody else's property, you should always be more mindful of your actions.  You must act with greater responsibility, seeking to return the land in better shape than you found it.  That lesson has followed me all the way to the Governor's office.  When I make any decision - particularly a decision on how to spend the dollars of taxpayers - I remember my father's definition of stewardship.

Of course, my mother, a teacher for 40 years, instilled in me a love for life-long learning.  Not only did I learn the preeminent importance of education to future success, I discovered how crucial parental involvement was to a productive life in school. 

And from both of them, I also learned the importance of sweat equity - good, old-fashioned hard work.  My parents were earnest believers in “an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.”  If you were still in bed when the sun rose, you were either sick or lazy.  We worked the land for our food.  We played hard and enjoyed the outdoors.  And we were constantly challenged to expand our mind, learn new things, and make ourselves better.

To find out more information about the bills that Gov. Perdue signed and vetoed this past summer, please visit his website, http://www.gov.state.ga.us.