Gov. Nathan Deal: Jason Carter Changes Position on HOPE

Your Georgia Desk

Carter changes position on HOPE

Democrat could no longer defend plan that would cut off middle class

On Monday, Carter for Governor denounced as a “shameful lie” Republican assertions that his HOPE income cap plan would cut off many middle-class families. Sen. Jason Carter clarified later in the day that it wasn’t true because he’d changed his position without telling anyone.

After claiming for three years that income caps are a moral imperative, Carter now says, three weeks before the election, that income caps are “too blunt an instrument.”

In comments to the AJC,Carter accidentally came close to admitting there’s no painless answer: “I think we do need to consider, at some point, need. Because you cannot pay for everybody. We want to maximize the number of people. I don’t think anyone is talking anymore about a solid cap. It’s probably too blunt an instrument. We want to make sure what we’re doing is maximizing the number of people, and finding ways to make sure we consider need without a full-fledged cap.”

“It’s literally taken Jason Carter three and a half years to realize you ‘cannot pay for everybody’ — a conclusion that responsible Republicans and Democrats reached when they took courageous votes to save HOPE from bankruptcy,” said Deal for Governor spokesman Brian Robinson. “Three years seems to be the standard rate of time for Carter to figure out how budgets work, since we got the same song and dance on why he changed his position on school funding. Considering that the governor only serves a four-year term, Georgia doesn’t have enough time for him to learn on the job.

“Without realizing it, Carter is admitting that Gov. Nathan Deal was right all along. Gov. Deal’s bipartisan plan stabilized HOPE’s finances while preserving the most generous state-sponsored scholarship program in the nation for the most students possible. The Deal plan keeps Georgia’s best and brightest at home. Carter’s plan was reckless grandstanding that would kick middle class families off of HOPE. Now, even he can’t deny that fact.

“As we’ve said before, the Carter campaign is like a restaurant without a menu. You never know what he’s serving up as the Daily Special.”

Monday’s reality check stands in stark contrast to Carter’s history of easy, painless, choice-free answers to difficult problems on HOPE. He first advocated a $140,000 household income cap, which would have excluded only 6 percent of Georgia households and bankrupted the program. He suggested grandfathering in current students in 2011, which would have completely depleted what few reserves were left in the program. He’s still pushing the idea that the Lottery should lower prizes to give more money to scholarships. As explained here, this scheme lowers sales and results in less money going to educational programs.