MY DAY AT THE CAPITOL

My day at the Georgia State Capitol is in the TOP TEN of my FAVORITE DAYS! I will first cover all the “sight seeing” aspects, and then tell you a great story of my day (including how I was escorted out of the Capitol by 2 State Troopers! LOL! As a friend of mine put it, “It is definitely a ‘Sherri story.’”).

The Georgia State Capitol, of course, is located in downtown Atlanta. There are four floors. You have to go through security in order to enter. I was surprised I made it through, since I was heavily armed with my cell phone, a digital camera, and a box of flyers on Bill SB 3 and its protection of Abortion Doctors. The bottom floor has a small store where you can buy hot dogs, drinks, candy, and pre-packaged sandwiches. Just outside the store are two small tables where you can sit to eat. There are also some great exhibits in small coves that are protected by huge glass windows. Governor Sonny Purdue’s offices are also on this floor. On the second floor there are more entrance areas, the Rotunda area, and beautiful stairwells on each end.

The Georgia State Capitol (just to clarify, I found this pic on Google Images- My talents in photography are lacking and would NEVER do the Capitol justice!)




On of those BEAUTIFUL stairwells. ( I know- I am NOT a professional photographer! Forgive me!)

Once you get to the 3rd floor you find many offices and the actual meeting rooms of both the GA State Senate and the GA House of Representatives. They have a clerks office where I received the BEST service I have ever experienced form ANY government fun office or employees. There is also an office for professional lobbyists. Professional Lobbyists have to actually be registered. You must fill out forms, understand the rules and guidelines, hand in monthly reports, etc. They even give you little nametags to wear. Since I was just a concerned citizen/activist (this was the first time in my life I had ever called myself an activist! LOL!!), I did not need to register and I did not get a nametag. There were people that work in “government affairs” hanging around too. These are people that are highly paid by interest groups to lobby our elected officials on certain bills; some of them may have as many as 20 clients, at least according to them they do. I know—sounds just like a lobbyist to me! Might be the same type phenomenon as dishwashers calling themselves “Restaurant Cleanliness Engineers,” but I am not sure about this yet. I have some research to do on this area.

This is Shawn Davis (Government Affairs, on the left) and one of the nicest lobbyists I ran into. (The tall red-headed man on the right)

One of the most amazing things that occurs on the third floor is not just the actual legislative process, but also the “paging” part of the legislative process. This is AWESOME! Talk about U.S. citizens having ACCESS to our elected officials! There is a table at one end of the central area where you can get these little forms the size of large index cards. You fill out with your name, address and phone number are optional, and the name of the Senator or Representative you wish to give a message to. Then there is a space for a message. This is the awesome part—you can put down as your message a request to speak with him/her. You take your card to some ladies at a desk (long line!), she hands the note to a page, and the page hand delivers your note right then and there to the elected official. I was STUNNED to see how many of these elected officials got up in the middle of the proceedings and came right out to talk to people. I wrote one to my State Representative, Ed Setzler. My note was simple; it said “God Bless YOU!” I will tell you more about that later. There are also offices of some of the elected officials on this floor, but the majority of their offices are across the street in the Legislative Offices Building.

Sign outside of Legislative Offices.



Ed Setzler, one of my favorite people on the planet!!! Ed is a devoted husband and father with a PASSION to do ALL he can to ensure a better future for his children. This is literally what drives this man. He is well grounded in a strong pursuit of integrity and morality in ALL he does. It is an honor for his constituents and ALL Georgia residents to have him serve us.

Just a typical desk of a Georgia Representative.....

The fourth floor is also exciting. Here you can find some glass cases with different displays. The whole building is full of paintings and informational plaques, much like a museum. There are also some sculptures and statues. The floors are marble, so one is very wise to wear “smart” shoes. There are meeting rooms all over, but on the fourth floor there are rooms where if you have a special groups coming, you can gather and hold meetings. My favorite aspect of the fourth floor is The Galleries. A Gallery is a balcony that sits above the proceedings. On one side of the building you enter the Gallery and you oversee the House of Representatives in session and on the other side the Senate.

Statue inside the Capitol

Well, this post has turned out to be quite long. There is just so much to share! I will post again a little later with the full story of my day. I cannot wait to share it! For now—enjoy the pictures below. There are many monuments outside, surrounding the Capitol building, and I have pictures of some of these monuments along with pictures of some of my friends I ran into while I was there, some elected officials, and even some Lobbyists and “Governmental Affairs” people. (Hard for me to say or type “Governmental Affairs” people with a straight face.)

Also, forgive me for not supplying more details on some of the below pictures, but the amount of information was quite overwhelming, and I had some serious lobbying to do!

The Lady......


Another gorgeous statue.....



My picture taking abilities do NOT do this one justice at all.......




Memorial


In honor of United Spanish War Veterans....
A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT IN AMERICA!!!!!


I really appreciated this one....


The full memorial to African Americans who served the state of Georgia. Truly touching!!!

I immediately thought of Bjamin when I saw this and yes, I teared up. In order to read the words, just put your pointer over the picture, right click your mouse and click on "Open Link in New Window.



The floor of the Georgia State Senate.


Floor of the Georgia House of Representatives after hours.....



A closer, upfront look at the floor of the Georgia House of Representatives.



Just a typical desk of a Georgia Representative.....



Roger Hines.......(I will tell you more about Roger later, but for now- know that Roger is one beyond measure when it comes to GREATNESS in my book!)