Back in early February, Jim Galloway pointed out how the recent Republican representative shift from rural to suburb (think Perdue vs. Deal) played out during the 2011 legislative session with the passage of the Sunday alcohol sales bill.  “An interesting perspective”, I thought.  “I’ll have to see how this plays itself out in the coming months.”

Well, low and behold, give ‘em a couple months and suddenly, not only are ITP blue and OTP red purchasing Sunday liquor, but they’re standing side-by-side announcing that together, the state of Georgia and the city of Atlanta had just convinced Porsche to consolidate its North American HQ at the old Ford Hapeville plant.

Maria Saporta notes the recent rarity of such an announcement…

For people in economic development circles, they couldn’t remember the last time that the governor of Georgia and the mayor of Atlanta had stood side-by-side to make such an announcement.

In fact, as best folks could remember, such a joint appearance may have dated back to when Atlanta was hosting the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

…But both Deal and Reed said that the two governments ability to collaborate was critical in Georgia and Atlanta attracting an increased commitment from Porsche.

“We wouldn’t have gotten this done without us working together,” Reed said after the press conference. “There was strong coordination between the state and the city. We both stepped up to the table repeatedly.”

A reminder that while there may still be real and theoretical differences between the two parties running the state and city, common interest sometimes trumps all.  And as of 2011, there seems to be a lot more common interest between the city and state than there used to be.

Unsung or not, it’s already producing results.

Get on the bus!

The AJC has done it up over the past couple days with a series of articles both reflecting and projecting on the passage of the transportation bill at the Georgia State Capitol this past week.

First, self-proclaimed “Political Insider” Jim Galloway dishes on how Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed put his youngish reputation on the line and helped convince members of both parties that they should pass this “billion dollar kidney stone.”  (Ha!  That’s good stuff.)  A good primer in Georgia politickin’, if you like that sorta thing. Sicko.

Secondly, Ariel Hart does some intensive digging and churns out both a “Now what? What will they build?” report, and a more extensive “How will we F this up?” article.

Bottom line: Mayor Reed is a work horse, politics is petty, MARTA is thrown a bone for 3 years (but doesn’t deserve it OR deserves more), and the metro area could raise upwards of $790 million/year from the potential penny sales tax.

Let’s do this thing! (…in 3 years)

This video is making the rounds this morning and is NOT an April Fools joke.  Man oh man…

Johnson’s office told the AJC’s Jim Galloway that he was using “tip over” as a metaphor.

h/t: Fresh Loaf

Jim Galloway reports this morning that former governor Roy Barnes will enter the 2010 governor’s race and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

I find myself wondering, is there no one else?

I guess fighting over the incorporation of Dunwoody wasn’t as fulfilling as holding the state’s highest office.  Who’d thunk it?