MOULTRIE – Lt. Gov. Burt Jones spoke at a joint meeting of the Moultrie Kiwanis Club and the Moultrie Rotary Club of Moultrie Tuesday at Southern Regional Technical College.
State Sen. Sam Watson, R-Moultrie, introduced Jones, telling the club members that they had known each other since 2012. Jones was elected into the state Senate at the same time that Watson was elected into the state House Of Representatives.
Watson said that Jones was from Butts County and lived in the City of Jackson where he owned a family business.
He spoke about Jones playing football at the University of Georgia and graduating from the institution.
“After being home for a little while, he spent some time in his community, started a family and, much like me, got involved in the community and, then, felt led to serve in the state Senate and was elected in 2012 and started serving in 2013,” Watson said.
He served in the Senate until December of 2022, he added, following his election as the lieutenant governor the previous month.
Watson said that when he went to Jones with his ideas, he said, “It sounds good to me. If it’s good for your district and your people back home and you think it’s what you need to do, then go for it. And he’s truly led the Senate that way.”
Watson also said that there have been a lot of difficult issues and Jones was wiling to talk about them, bring them to a vote and let people make a decision on them, however, “they happen to happen.”
“I was trying to think … but in my 12 years, now, of serving, I can’t remember a time that we’ve had our lieutenant governor in Moultrie,” Watson said and thanked Jones for taking time away from his business and family.
He said that before the meeting, Jones had been shown around the county and had met with farmers and visited a school and also had spent some time at SRTC.
“I just wanted to show the lieutenant governor what we have here and how great we all work together to do the things that we do here,” Watson said.
Jones said he knew that Moultrie was a special place because Rotary and Kiwanis could get together and they couldn’t do that in his hometown. This drew laughter from the club members.
He said that his hometown was a lot like Moultrie just a little bit smaller population-wise. He “stumbled” in to politics, he said, through getting involved with his community. He also said that he had really enjoyed serving in the state Senate.
“The way that the Georgia system is set up is nice because your legislators are legislative citizens. So, most of us have to work, have to keep a day-job when you’re also serving in public office like Chas or Sam or Amy, when she served,” Jones said, referencing state Rep. Chas Cannon of Moultrie, Watson and former state Rep. Amy Carter, now an official with SRTC.
Jones said that it was good to have people who continued to work and be involved with the community because they got to see legislation that they passed at the state capitol and how it actually transitioned and worked in the local communities.
“I always thought that was something special about the Georgia system. Something I appreciated,” he said.
Jones said that since he’s been lieutenant governor, he’s put forth a few initiatives that he wanted to address.
“Our state is very fortunate. It’s a growing state. It’s got positive things that are going on, here in the state, from an economic standpoint,” he said.
He said some things that he’d like to look at are reducing regulatory items on businesses, lowering the state income tax, looking at public safety and looking at the public school system to see that it provides the best eduction and offers choices in education, as well. He said he also wanted to focus on the DFACS and the foster care system at the state level.
Jones said that one of the things they got done in the legislature this year was on the school choice front.
“You know, I tell people all the time. ‘Look, I am the product of public school educators,’” he said and added that his father was the school superintendent and his mother was a longtime school principal.
“The reason why I’ve always been for school choice is because not every public school is the perfect fit for every child,” Jones said.
He said that a parent and a child should not be limited to a school system that was not a good fit for them. He was very proud of the school choice measure that they had passed this year, he said, and that they had also lowered the state income tax one more time.
“My plan is to try to get it to zero, much like Florida and Tennessee. It’s one of those things. You can’t do it in one year but you can gradually do it over time,” Jones said.
He said that on the public safety front, there was a large pay increase to state law enforcement officers and the “no cash” bail system had been reformed because some counties were abusing it.
“Those are just a few things that I want to focus on in my role as lieutenant governor,” he said.
Jones said that Watson was right when he spoke about the way he ran the senate and that he did run it differently than it had been run in the past.
“I believe that every elected official is there, and that’s Republican or Democrat, every elected officer is there to represent their constituency,” he said.
He also said that it was up to them to put forth policy or legislation that was in the best interest of those who sent them to the General Assembly.
Jones said that he gives everyone an equal opportunity to present their case and let the legislative body vote on it.
“Y’all have a great, great delegation that represents you here. Y’all have a great community and I could not believe all the amenities … as well as just the businesses in town,” he said.
Jones said Colquitt County is a thriving community and that it was very fortunate because a lot of communities in the area were struggling. He went on to say that he thought this community would be the envy of a lot of communities around the state.
“You can tell that Colquitt County and Moultrie has done a great job through the years in developing the community, as well as having everybody onboard. I think, with what represents good quality living, here, in a community this small,” he said.