ROY BARNES

I am committed to making Georgia a model for open and honest government.

But the fact is, no matter how good the teacher, how small the class, how focused on quality education the school may be none of this matters if we ignore the individual needs of our students.

The time has come to end social promotion in our schools.

Business and the state have a common interest; not an adversarial interest.

I want business to prosper and make a profit caused by business expansion and prosperity.

The First Amendment rejects red tape, cover-up and double-speak.

By creating a Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, we will give local governments a framework for working together on an issue that affects our whole state.

And one of the things I've tried to do in my first months in office is to give more Georgians - reporters and members of the general public alike - a closer look at how their government works.

In my first year as governor, we solved some of the problems that had begun to undermine the Open Records Act. We gave the act teeth by providing criminal penalties for knowing violations.

We will never forget those like my great-grandfather who fought at Vicksburg.

One thing I learned a long time ago as a prosecutor is that it's tough to get people to obey a law if there is not penalty for breaking it.

After all, I have spent the better part of my adult life insisting that government be open... that government be accessible... and that government be held accountable to people who voted us into office.

No one in government should ever think that the citizens they work for can't or won't scrutinize their actions.

Repeating a grade needs to be the last resort, not an automatic response to a child who is struggling to learn.

There is no country on earth with a stronger tradition of protecting the public's right to know.

Enhancing revenues will help us improve education and solve our infrastructure problems.

So today I say, the outlook in Georgia has never been brighter.

Neither political party is clean when it comes to tactics that divide our people.

What I am proposing this year are not lofty concepts far removed form the daily struggle so of ordinary Georgians. They are proposals that directly effect the lives of the people we serve.

Georgia is in an enviable position today, but we can't rest on our laurels.

And this week, I am proposing legislation to strengthen our Open Records laws to make public access to our public records surer, faster, and more comprehensive.

As the leaders and decision-makers of this great state, it is our responsibility to strive for perfection.

Traffic is only one of the side effects of growth.

We changed the names of our technical schools to colleges, we expanded the eligibility for HOPE scholarships for technical training, and we added some formula funding.

As the population of Georgia increased dramatically, so did development.