McKoon says he will consider his tone but not ‘sell out’ values

Columbus Republican Sen. Josh McKoon has spent six years in the General Assembly taking political stands.

He was the driving force for “religious liberty” legislation that finally passed the Senate and House after a three-year push only to be vetoed last week by Gov. Nathan Deal. Not long after he got into the Senate, McKoon pushed for ethics legislation that drew the ire of Speaker of the House David Ralston and some of his colleagues.

He hasn’t backed away from a fight, sometimes throwing punches that have little chance of landing. Two examples of that came in the recent session where he introduced a bill in the Senate to term-limit the Speaker of the House. The bill was pulled after Senate leadership asked McKoon to take it off the table. He also introduced legislation that would take away the governor’s authority to appoint a U.S. Senator in the event of a mid-term vacancy.

Rep. Richard Smith, R-Columbus, said McKoon’s actions have cost Columbus State University $8 million in funding in the final phase of the state budgeting process and another almost $2 million for the National Infantry Museum was not forthcoming. Smith said he was told by Gov. Nathan Deal that the Infantry Museum money would not be available because of McKoon. He said the speaker’s top aide told him McKoon was the reason the Columbus State funding was being pulled, despite the fact that it had been approved in the first versions of the House and Senate budgets.

McKoon, 37, said his Senate colleagues on the conference committee that pulled the Columbus State construction funding told him it was being done because it was not all needed in the next fiscal year. Smith was shifting the blame for the lost funding because it was Smith’s role in the Columbus delegation to protect those funds, McKoon said.

One of McKoon’s mentors and the man he replaced in the Senate, Seth Harp, said the two recently had a conversation.

“I told Josh that you are running into a wall that is not improving your effectiveness,” Harp said. “… I have told him to be quiet and sit down. He needs to find a way to stop the battle. And I think he will.”

McKoon said he listened.

“I have always appreciated his perspective,” McKoon said. “… I will certainly take into consideration tone when I am dealing with others with strong opinions. I take his advice seriously. But I am not going to sell out my principles because somebody threatens me. Once you have made that decision and compromised your values to get along, you probably need to find something else to do.”

Brian Robinson spent more than five years working for Deal in his initial campaign, then as communications director before leaving in August to start his own communications firm. Robinson said he does not speak for the governor or his office anymore, but he has watched McKoon closely over the last three terms.

The loss of the Columbus State funding has put McKoon in a vice between his primary audience — the conservative wing of the state Republican party — and his own constituents, Robinson said. When the story was published Monday night, McKoon’s initial Facebook link to it called it “pure fiction.”

“By coming out and saying the story is inaccurate, he finally appears concerned that his schtick could hurt him with his constituents,” Robinson said.

McKoon has built a powerful statewide network of grassroots Republicans. And it is that base that he is playing to, Robinson said.

“Josh will get up on a Saturday morning and drive to Lowndes County down on the Florida line to go to a GOP party breakfast,” Robinson said. “That is not something your average state senator does. Those people are the foot soldiers of the party, and they are the turnout machine. But they are also more conservative than your average Georgia primary voter.”

McKoon makes no apologies for working with Republicans from across the state.

“If you are trying to effect change — and I plead guilty to wanting our system to change significantly — you do that,” McKoon said. “… I am not the governor, lieutenant governor or the speaker of the House, and the only way I can effect that change is to convince the party at large. That doesn’t happen by email. You have to meet people and talk it through.”

While Robinson disagrees with much of the agenda McKoon has pushed, he has a grudging respect for the senator.

“He is smart, politically savvy, and he has ideas for legislation,” Robinson said. “And I can tell you that is not true with all legislators. He cares, and I respect that. But you have got to play well in the sandbox. You can’t throw sand in people’s faces and say they are corrupt. You just can’t do that.

“He has the skill set to be a significant leader in the Senate or any other position he would run for. He is by far the hardest working man in show business. He has also developed political talent.”

That said, he’s shown in the last week that he can fall victim to his own hubris, Robinson said.

“He’s deepened his divide with the governor, using offensive and downright inflammatory language about him,” Robinson said. “And he’s handled this story clumsily. Saying Richard Smith should have called the U.S. Attorney’s Office because some mean people committed an act of politics makes him look silly and little — seems almost frantic about a story that wasn’t going his way.”

McKoon said the religious liberty legislation is personal to him and not a political football.

“I grew up and was confirmed in the United Methodist Church,” McKoon said. “After the sudden death of a close friend in college and other personal traumas, I experienced a crisis of faith that caused me to spend several years seeking a spiritual home which led me to join the Catholic Church Easter Week of 2002. Several key conversations that I had during that time were in classrooms with fellow students and some professors.”

That is why he believes so strongly in the legislation, McKoon said.

“What is particularly offensive about the suggestion that this is some cynical political move is that I continued to visit with groups after my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last summer,” McKoon said. “I would not have spent one minute on this issue once I knew she was sick if this was about some kind of self-promotion. This issue is important to me because I have personally experienced the life-altering impact of having religious freedom.”

Robinson says McKoon never asked for a meeting this session with Deal to discuss the religious liberties legislation.

“That tells me this is a campaign issue and not a policy issue,” Robinson said. “He wants an issue to run on and this is it. It is a made-up issue, and he has done it very effectively. And, as a political communicator, I admire him for that. I can tell you that last Wednesday night, the people at my parents’ church were praying for Nathan Deal’s soul.”

McKoon said he does not recall meeting with Deal one on one, but that is the job of Senate leadership.

If McKoon is looking for a statewide run, Robinson said, he is going to have to appeal to many of the business interests he has alienated with the religious liberties legislation.

“It cost $400,000 a week to run television ads in the Metro Atlanta market, and I am telling you that you’re not going to raise the money you need by going to county party breakfasts on Saturday mornings,” Robinson said. “He got too cute on the last day of session with a bill that would subject Georgia’s biggest employers to class-action lawsuits. Not only will he not get help, he’s a target.”

McKoon disagrees.

“Brian makes an incorrect assumption that my effort to pass religious freedom legislation is some pretext to run for another office,” McKoon said. “I learned from my ethics reform fight that a successful model for getting a bill passed is raising awareness of enough Republicans statewide of an issue. That is exactly what I’ve done on religious freedom.

“He’s right in that if my goal was to run for higher office I would be better off promoting tax giveaways for special interests, casino gaming and generally playing the Gold Dome game instead of promoting ethics reform, religious freedom and changing the legislative process to make it open and transparent for all.”

McKoon said his agenda is not a step to a higher statewide office.

“I didn’t run for the State Senate to audition for another elected office,” he said. “I ran to pursue policies that I believe are good for our state. If I am a target of special interests afraid of someone who might stop their taxpayer-funded gravy train, I think I am doing my job. I’m far more fearful of having to live with myself after compromising my principles than I am of losing an election.”

Robinson said the local delegation, led by Democratic Rep. Calvin Smyre, and Columbus State should reach out to the governor.

“Gov. Deal is a good Christian man who does not hold grudges,” Robinson said. “I am sure any rift with the governor can be repaired. My suggestion is inviting the governor to come down to Columbus and visit Columbus State University. Show him the great things you’re doing there.

“He has no beef with Columbus State. But it should probably be Richard Smith and Calvin Smyre that send the invite for the time being.”

This story was originally published April 3, 2016 at 6:52 PM with the headline "McKoon says he will consider his tone but not ‘sell out’ values."