WALKER: Who runs Georgia?

Several times in the past I've had someone, usually a younger person, ask me what they should read to learn about politics in Georgia. My answer is always the same: "Start with the book, 'Who Runs Georgia?,' written by Calvin Kytle and James A. Mackay (it's an account of the 1947 three governor crisis that set the stage for Georgia's political transformation)."

Really, Larry, how can a book about events in the 1940s tell me anything about modern day Georgia politics?

Good question. Let me quote from Mackay's preface and you decide whether this old book is instructive and helpful:

"The name-calling, the negative campaigning, the unregulated solicitation and misuse of campaign funds, the crushing weight of corporate power, the civic passivity and low voter turnout — all have come to typify our national political behavior. It's as if the gallus-snapping, shirt-sleeved demagogues of Georgia's yesterday have merely moved north, acquired Armani suits and new accents, and gone on network television."

It's almost as if I can see Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton inhaling deeply and coughing slightly as Mackay's words from years ago escape from this old, cracked-open book into the modern Georgia political air.

Indeed, who does run Georgia? With my recommended book as a guide, here's what I'd say, starting with a name from the past.

Former Gov. Marvin Griffin is reported to have once said (and this sounds just like him) "that regardless of who Georgia's governor is, it's a big potato." Gov. Griffin was and is right — it is a "big potato" — so I'd put Gov. Nathan Deal at the top of the pile as to who is running Georgia. And, as an aside, I'd say that he's doing a good job of it.

Then you've got the corporate players: banks, gas and electric utilities, news media, railroads, trucking companies, highway contractors, alcohol beverage folks, insurance companies, etc.

These folks don't go en masse to Atlanta. They send their representatives in the form of lobbyists who have a big hand as they influence and attempt to influence elected officials at all levels of government. The state Legislature and its members await them with open arms.

And let's not forget that the government itself, in an in-house, incestuous sort of way, influences the government of which it is a part with lobbyists and "spokespersons" as to how things should be run. Think: judges, Department of Education, Department of Transportation, Board of Regents, Technical College System of Georgia, GAE, PAGE, Georgia Farm Bureau, county and city associations. They all have their people at the Capitol.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce (its board of "big mules") is another potent force in the group that runs Georgia. It's probably true that when the people who make up the Georgia Chamber do good, Georgia does good, So, not a bad group to have influence.

My terse look at who runs Georgia is not a criticism, just observations. And I do believe it's true that mainly the same interests who are running Georgia today were the folks who were running it in the 1940s, were running it when I was in the state House and will be running it 20 years from now.

As mentioned, all of the groups have lobbyists. They had them when I was in the Legislature and they have them today. The lobbyists are probably younger today, and there are more females, but their work is the same. It is their job to press on the elected officials their employers' views as to how it could be — how it should be — run.

When I was there, I found lobbyists to be informed and helpful. Those who didn't tell you the truth, even when it was against their interests, didn't have any influence and didn't last long. Lobbyists, generally, were people of integrity. As to anything of controversy, there was almost always a lobbyist on both sides, so you could get a quick education that helped me to make my decisions as to how I should vote.

Before I filed this column, I asked my long-time friend, Connell Stafford, formerly a lobbyist with Coca-Cola (now that's a "big mule"), to look this over. His response: "Larry, I can't think of any group you've left out. Like a big circus under one tent, the ringmaster runs the show, but it won't work at all without the lions, the tigers, the elephants and last, but not least, the clowns."

Fortunately, the lack of clowns under the Georgia government big tent is one thing about which we've not had to worry in Georgia.

This column was published in the September-October edition of James. It is used here with the permission of that magazine.

Larry Walker is a practicing attorney in Perry. He served 32 years in the Georgia General Assembly and presently serves on the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. Email: lwalker@whgmlaw.com.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 7:44 PM with the headline "WALKER: Who runs Georgia? ."