{"id":4103,"date":"2011-04-05T07:16:37","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T12:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thedustininmansociety.com\/blog\/?p=4103"},"modified":"2011-04-05T07:17:20","modified_gmt":"2011-04-05T12:17:20","slug":"savannah-senator-casey-cagle-threatened-cash-for-port-dredging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/05\/savannah-senator-casey-cagle-threatened-cash-for-port-dredging\/","title":{"rendered":"Cagle opposes E-Verify too – Savannah senator: Casey Cagle threatened cash for port dredging"},"content":{"rendered":"

AJC<\/em><\/p>\n

Savannah senator: Casey Cagle threatened cash for port dredging<\/strong><\/p>\n

April 2, 2011, by jgalloway<\/p>\n

Senate Republican leaders are pushing back against Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle\u2019s attempt this week to restore his authority over the chamber. State Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Savannah, this morning accuses Cagle of threatening the multi-million dollar funding needed for the dredging of the Port of Savannah.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Cagle denies all.<\/p>\n

From Larry Peterson and the Savannah Morning News:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe called me up to the podium and said I had been carrying a lot of water for [Senate President pro tem] Tommie Williams and [Majority Leader] Chip Rogers,\u201d Carter said of Cagle.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said I was going to need help from the lieutenant governor to keep harbor deepening in the budget. I took that as a threat.\u201d
\nCagle could not be reached for comment late Friday, but spokesman Ben Fry called the accusation \u201ccompletely false.\u201d<\/p>\n

State officials view deepening the harbor \u2014 which supports an estimated 300,000 jobs \u2014 as vital to keeping Savannah and the state competitive in world trade. The Senate and House already have passed different versions of a state budget that includes $32 million in bonds for harbor deepening.<\/p>\n

A committee of lawmakers from both chambers \u2014 Cagle appoints the Senate members \u2014 is due to meet to iron out the differences.<\/p>\n

The state already has advanced $104 million for the project, which needs hundreds of millions more from the federal government, plus various agency approvals.<\/p>\n

Carter, contacted by the Morning News after rumors circulated concerning Cagle\u2019s remarks, said he was appalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him harbor deepening is an extremely important project and that I was disappointed to see it get caught up in Senate politics. \u2026 He obviously was trying to make a power play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fry noted that Cagle long has supported port funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs lieutenant governor,\u201d Fry said, \u201che has personally fought to secure the necessary funding \u2014 since before Buddy was elected.<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2026 He would not allow political considerations to enter into a decision like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unfortunate that anybody might suggest otherwise in a completely false accusation.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Senate President pro tem Tommy] Williams said he believes Carter.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think Sen. Carter has any reason to lie,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sorry that this sort of thing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Caucus Chairman Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, was more direct.
\n\u201cThis is pretty bad,\u201d Cowsert said. \u201c \u2026 I am very disappointed to hear that the lieutenant governor would resort to a threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat not only harms Sen. Carter and his constituents but also our entire state and an economic development project vital for our future, all for the pursuit of political power.\u201d<\/p>\n

– By Jim Galloway, Political Insider<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AJC Savannah senator: Casey Cagle threatened cash for port dredging April 2, 2011, by jgalloway Senate Republican leaders are pushing back against Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle\u2019s attempt this week to restore his authority over the chamber. State Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Savannah, this morning accuses Cagle of threatening the multi-million dollar funding needed for the dredging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}