Atlanta, GA - Georgia FreedomWorks and Georgia Tea Party Patriots strongly oppose Governor Perdue's attempt to take electing power away from the citizens of Georgia by removing the ability to elect four Constitutional offices, and amend the Constitution to grant that power to the Governor to appoint those positions.

"The core values of our organizations are fiscal responsibility, free markets, and constitutionally limited government", said Debbie Dooley, State Grassroots Coordinator of FreedomWorks. "Millions of activists took to the streets last year in protest because they did not feel their elected officials were accountable to them. They were protesting the fact the federal government had become too large and was exercising too much power. It is a shame Gov. Perdue and others did not listen to that message" Dooley continued, "The thought of centralizing more power into the hands of the Governor scares me. Right now, those elected officials answer to the citizens who elected them. They should not answer to the Governor."

Julianne Thompson is State Co-Coordinator of Tea Party Patriots, and she stated "We are all for the idea of the Governor and Legislature streamlining state government, but with all due respect, giving the Governor more power is not the way to do it." Thompson continued, "If Governor Perdue and the legislature truly want reform and a more efficient government then we call on them to pass zero based budgeting. We call on them to eliminate state departments that are not necessary. We ask for sunset laws on all state agencies to prove they are performing efficiently, and we ask for ethics reform. These are issues we support and will stand with them on. "

"The insinuation that the Governor is more qualified people to decide who hold's public office than the citizens of Georgia is intellectually insulting. First of all, we the people will decide who we want in these offices, not the Governor, not the legislature. Secondly, we are very well aware that this will only lend itself to more cronyism and a strengthening of the good ole boy system so prevalent in Georgia politics." stated Joy McGraw,  Tea Party Patriots State Co-Coordinator.

Julianne Thompson said, "The bottom line is this gives too much power to one person and their political party. I hope the legislature thinks about the fact that this would apply to a Democrat as well as a Republican Governor."

Dooley added, "We need only look to Washington to see the disastrous consequences of centralizing authority. We have had enough cronyism. This is not the right move for Georgia ."