Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker is entering the 2010 race for governor in Georgia, jumping into a crowded field to replace Sonny Perdue when his second term expires.
If he wins Baker, the state’s top elected Democrat, would be Georgia’s first black governor. He’s expected to stress his tough law-and-order credentials in cracking down on identity fraud and abolishing parole for violent offenders.
Baker will file the paperwork later Wednesday to enter the race, spokesman Jeff DiSantis said. That allows him to raise money for the contest, still 19 months away. Baker had no immediate comment.
Baker is serving his third four-year term as attorney general after being appointed to the post in 1997 by then-Gov. Zell Miller. He made history as the first black to hold the state’s top law enforcement post.
Before that he served nine years in the state House of Representatives, where he rose to become Miller’s floor leader.
The gubernatorial post being vacated by Perdue is attracting attention from many of Georgia’s political heavyweights.
On the Republican side, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Secretary of State Karen Handel, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine and state Rep. Austin Scott, of Tifton, are all running. Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens is also considering entering the race.
David Poythress, former commander of the Georgia National Guard, is the only Democrat in the race so far. House Minority Leader DuBose Porter and former Gov. Roy Barnes have also said they may jump in.
Perdue became Georgia’s first GOP governor since Reconstruction and the state has become increasingly Republican since he first took office in 2002. Democrats face what could be an uphill battle in retaking the governor’s mansion.
Born in Rocky Mount, N.C. in 1952, Baker attended segregated schools until he was a sophomore in high school. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1975. A fencing enthusiast, he won the 1975 Atlantic Coast Conference individual sabre championship.
He went on to graduate from Emory University’s law school. He managed his own law firm and worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Baker adopted a tough-on-crime stance in the statehouse. He helped pass Georgia’s “two strikes” law, designed to keep violent offenders in jail without possibility of parole. He also succeeded in passing tougher laws to combat financial identity fraud.
He was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in all three of his bids for attorney general.
In 2006, Baker was selected by his peers as president of the National Association of Attorneys General. But despite the high-profile posts, Baker is notoriously press-shy and rarely holds news conferences.
His role as the state’s chief law enforcement officer has sometimes put him at odds with Georgia’s black community and his own party.
Baker’s office has vigorously defended Georgia’s voter ID law, which has been criticized as disenfranchising poor and minority voters less likely to have photo identification. And some complain that he has done little to stop Georgia’s prisons from filling up with black youths.
He drew protests from black leaders in 1999 when he led the charge to prosecute state Sen. Ralph David Abernathy III, son of the civil rights icon, for misappropriating state funds.
The low-key litigator found himself at the center of a racially charged case again in 2007 when he opposed the release of Genarlow Wilson, who was serving a 10-year mandatory prison sentence for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17.
The Georgia Supreme Court eventually ordered Wilson released.
Georgia Attorney General: http://law.ga.gov/
