A big majority in the Georgia House of Representatives recently voted down a resolution that would have commended the University of Georgia Young Democrats for expressly partisan activities such as working on the 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama.
That stirred a vigorous protest from a Democrat lawmaker, state Rep. Joe Heckstall, who said, "We have just gone down the tube in this House."
But the House was clearly right to reject the resolution. It might be appropriate for a private organization to praise a partisan group for engaging in partisan political activity. But surely lawmakers in Georgia or any state should not be making official declarations commending either individuals or groups for their efforts to get a particular political candidate elected.
House Majority Leader Larry O'Neal properly condemned the attempt to misuse the legislative process to imply that the House endorses a politician.
"It's a political resolution that looks like the entire House is commending a particular political candidate and political philosophy," O'Neal told The Associated Press. "We've got an election season coming up, and I didn't want the other side running around with a resolution adopted by the entire House -- Republicans and Democrats and independents -- saying that we're commending and supporting Barack Obama, for instance, for president."
It has been suggested that Georgia lawmakers previously did approve some unwise resolutions praising partisan groups for their political activity.
If that is so, then it is a reason to end all such resolutions, not to adopt even more of them.