Sonny Perdue
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George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III (born December 20, 1946) is the current governor of the U.S. state of Georgia. Upon his inauguration in January 2003, he became the first Republican governor of Georgia since the end of Reconstruction in the 1870s.
Perdue was born in Perry, Georgia and grew up in Houston County, Georgia, near Bonaire.
He was elected in November 2002, defeating incumbent Democrat Roy Barnes in what was widely regarded as an upset. The campaign focused largely on perceived abuses of power by Barnes, and the poor test scores in Georgia schools.
Perdue's focus in office has been on reforming state government, improving education, and growing the state's economy. Perdue has pushed hard for comprehensive ethics reform legislation, and has instituted a series of reforms designed to cut waste in government.
In education, Perdue has focused on returning decision-making to the local level. Since Perdue took office, Georgia has moved out of last place in SAT scores.
Having won office on a promise to restore the public's trust in state government, Perdue signed a series of executive orders establishing a strict code of ethics for the executive branch and creating the Office of Inspector General to investigate allegations of waste, fraud and abuse.
During his campaign, Perdue denounced Governor Barnes and Democratic party state legislators for changing the Georgia state flag by removing its "Stars and Bars" or "St. Andrews Cross" Confederate Battle Flag emblem. Georgia added the emblem to its state flag in 1956 in what has been widely interpreted as a rejection of the Civil Rights Movement. Georgia Governors are powerful state executives and Barnes had successfully pressed the state legislature to adopt a seemingly innocuous flag featuring the state seal on a blue field with a bottom row of small previous state and national flags, but this change proved unpopular.
During the campaign, the changing of Georgia's flag was a minor issue. In the first legislative session of the Perdue administration, a bipartisan proposal to create a new flag that would represent all Georgians passed the General Assembly. Georgia voters approved that flag by a wide margin in a 2004 referendum. The 1956 flag was not an option on the ballot.
External links
- Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue
- Perdue for a New Georgia
- Perdue Watch
- Project Vote Smart - Political Profile
- Sonny Lied: The Official Georgia State Sign -- X-Files on GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org
- Comparing Day and Night: Comparing George Washington to George Perdue -- X-Files on GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org
- Rooster Perdue -- X-Files on GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org
| Preceded by: Roy Barnes | Governor of Georgia 2003—present | Succeeded by: Incumbent |