As the tally in the balance of power continues to correct itself in the run up to the 2011 session, Baldwin County’s Caucus of One says the 2010 election, and its aftermath, have changed little in Georgia politics.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m a Republican or a Democrat, if I can’t produce, people will elect someone else,” the state House’s loan Independent Rusty Kidd (Milledgeville) said about his campaigning season. “’It doesn’t matter what you call yourself, as long as you can bring something home for me.’”
Talking on the day news broke that Minority Caucus Chair Doug McKillip (Athens) was the sixth Democratic Representative to quit the party and caucus with Republicans, Kidd said legislators are joining the majority on the other side of the aisle to remain relevant in the modern era.
“Politics are going to be controlled by the Republicans, so [these Democrats] feel they need to be Republicans to play the game,” he said. “Republicans don’t just own the bat and the ball, they own the whole club.”
But Kidd says his years under the Gold Dome, both as a lobbyist and a one-year incumbent returning for his first full term in office, have afforded him the ability to transcend the partisan jockeying and be a vote to win or lose on any piece of legislation.
“I’ve been building good relationships with Republicans and Democrats for 20 years,” he said. “They just look at me as Rusty, I’m not cast out by the R or the D behind my name.”
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