Hello my Friends,

I hope this newsletter finds you well. Spring seems just around the corner. The weather has been great and the trees in the woods behind my home are already starting to bud. Of course, that means pollen season is just around the corner, but for now I am going to just enjoy the sun.

Continuing last month’s “theme” of how we win the future for Georgians it appears that Republicans are bent on cutting Georgia’s HOPE programs. While the biggest issues people are hearing about are cuts to the HOPE Scholarship, there are also significant hits to Georgia’s Pre-K program (making it a half-day program) and other programs such as the HOPE Grant. How making it harder for working families and in many areas to put their kids through college, or how they arrange to pick up a child from a half day pre-k program rather than simply have the child in day care not getting a head start on their education, wins the future I don’t kno! w. I was in a briefing just today where it was made very clear that, the Governor was not interested in trying to raise any additional
revenue to help ensure that these programs are fully available to Georgians. While I am sure no one wants to pay more in taxes, investing in our states economic future by making sure our kids are educated is one area I was personally willing to pay for. Whether it would be through additional motor fuel taxes that might also encourage more fuel efficient vehicle sales, designating a portion of the sales tax that Republicans want to put back on groceries or even thinking “outside the box” to ideas like Para mutual gambling are perhaps better ways to find these funds. Yet we aren’t looking at anything other than how we can make cuts and decrease usage of these important programs. That’s not a way to win the future. It’s not good policy for our state. It’s not good policy for our kids. However, that is where we are at folks. Unless we demand c! hange from our leaders and make change in our leadership, we will continue to fail to invest in our future.
Contact Information

Coverdell Legislative Office Building 18

Capitol Square, Room 323-B Atlanta, GA 30334

www.makingyourvoicecount.com

curt@curtthompson.com  

404.463.2649
Free Hit Counters
With that in mind, and with the legislative session more than halfway over we will be presenting an update on what is going on down at our State Capitol at our next Citizen Advisory Forum. So please bring your questions, concerns and thoughts to the March 19 Citizen Advisory Forum that starts at 10:30am over at Café 45 South (the old Northern Star) located on South Peachtree Street in historic Norcross, and runs until noon. Bring your family, your friends and your ideas, regardless of political or ideological stripe, and let’s discuss how to win the future over coffee and pastries and ! let’s figure out how to take those ideas to the Georgia General Assembly and the US Congress and beyond.


Of course you can also contact me with your issues and ideas by responding to this email, by emailing me directly at curt@curtthompson.com, going to my website www.makingyourvoicecount.com and taking my survey, or by simply getting on the phone and calling me at 404-643-2649.


I look forward to hearing from you.


Thanks for all you do.

Curt