By Maggie Lee / Staff and John Fredericks / Staff

Milton County is dead for the year, as the clock struck midnight on its last chance for 2010 passage on Friday night.

"Crossover Day" is the last day for the General Assembly to move legislation through one chamber or the other. The initiative slipped away before there was any debate on HR21, the resolution that could have started Milton on the path to secession.

The House attempted to handle about 60 pieces of legislation in 14 hours, an impossible task; Milton didn't make the cut.

Debate was limited to one hour per bill, but some Democrats made sure to burn time in speaking from the well. The tactic made Democrats the "party of no" for the day. However, as gubernatorial candidate and minority leader Rep. DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) said earlier in the day, the House Rules Committee put almost no Democratic bills on the day's calendar. So perhaps there was some justice.

In the end it was chaos in its truest form, as only 31 bills and resolutions saw the light of day, or the shine of night.

It was not new House Speaker David Ralston's (R-Blue Ridge) shining moment. He was bushwhacked, decoyed and out-maneuvered by savvy and strategic Democrat foot-dragging and demagoguery.

But this was Ralston's first year at managing the all too cumbersome and nightmarish bewitching day, so he gets a gentleman's pass. This time.

REPUBLICANS EVER SO CLOSE -- BUT NO CIGAR

"I don't know what they were doing, but I know what I was doing: lobbying against HR 21," said Rep. Ralph Long (D-Atlanta).

House Speaker Pro-Tem Jan Jones (R-Milton) had pledged to bring the resolution to the floor if she had the votes, and Ralston was helping her. But opinion was bearish under the Gold Dome all day.

Milton County supporters, led by Jones and her team of six North Side legislators, dubbed the "Magnificent Seven"  -- which include Reps. Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek), Chuck Martin (R-Alpharetta), Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs), Harry Geisinger (R-Roswell), Joe Wilkinson (R-Sandy Springs) and Tom Rice (R-Norcross) worked feverishly in the waning hours to get the supermajority they needed for passage of HR21, which would have asked the voters of the state to amend the constitution to make possible the re-creation of Milton County.

According to Milton's floor leaders, they had amassed 117 votes for the measure by 9:00 p.m.

Trouble is, this isn't horseshoes or hand grenades. They needed 120.

After 15 years in the making, they came up three votes short.

Worse yet, two were wayward Republicans: Majority Whip "Buckhead Ed" Lindsey (R-Buckhead) and Austin Scott (R-Tifton), a candidate for governor.

DANCING WITH THE DEMOCRATS

In the famous line at the conclusion of the classic 1933 movie "King Kong," adventurer Carl Denham, played by Robert Armstrong, told NYC cops, "It was beauty that killed the beast."

In the case of Milton County, it was an unholy political alliance of the worst kind between “Buckhead Ed” and state house liberals that stalled the resolution for at least another session.

GOP Caucus leader Lindsey teamed up with Democrats including the legislative Black Caucus to block what could have been a successful vote for the re-creation of Milton County in 2010.

Now it will have to wait for at least another two years to see the inside of a ballot box.

"It was close, but we didn't have enough for a vote. It was a great attempt. We kept whipping. We came pretty close. We had some people change their votes. It was a valiant effort," lamented a fatigued Rep. Joe Wilkinson (R-Sandy Springs) in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

BODKER'S HAD ENOUGH

Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker was one of many north side Republicans who voiced frustration with "Buckhead Ed." The mayor, a staunch supporter of HR 21, says that Lindsey's actions rang the death knell for the new county. "He can say what he wants," Bodker charged, "but his actions belie his words. Lindsey worked to keep us chained to him so he won't be so lonely." Bodker maintained that the real losers Friday night were Fulton County residents. "Every Fulton County citizen deserves better then to continue being abused at the hands of the Fulton County Commission," Bodker said.

The two-term North Fulton mayor claimed that Lindsey offered no viable solution to the failing and inefficient Fulton County government. Lindsey did offer up a resolution to bar Fulton County from spending money they were not authorized to allocate by the Commission as an alternative solution, but Bodker was not impressed.

"His amendment was a non-starter at best and a fraud at worst," Bodker added, in no mood to mince political words. "It was political grandstanding, and nothing more."

"BUCKHEAD ED'S" LAST HURRAH

At issue for several North Fulton legislators was not necessarily Lindsey's lack of support for the new county, but his covert work to insure its defeat. Lindsey ambushed his Caucus boss Jones with an amendment he attempted to tag onto the initiative late last week, then sent out a blast email and letter to his constituents urging them to rally their support to jettison the measure in the final days. One veteran House member complained that the level of Lindsey's antagonism to HR 21 gave Democrat opponents critical political cover -- and lent much needed credibility to their opposition -- at the most crucial time. "After 15 years of work we were three votes short," one veteran House member said, blaming the Buckhead Republican for the measure's demise. "Lindsey made his deal with the devil. You do the math."

Burkhalter, who Jones summoned to be her defacto "Whip" in rounding up votes in the final days, in lieu of Lindsey, was upbeat in defeat. "There were many in our Caucus who worked very hard to pass this amendment, and a few who did not. No one person is responsible, either way," Burkhalter theorized. "We came up a handful of votes short, but the will of North Fulton residents and their delegation for self government remains strong and undaunted. We will prevail."

Jones was circumspect in her assessment. She said the Fulton County lobby team pumped $1 million into dumping the measure, which she sponsored. "We put everything into it," Jones summarized. "We left nothing on the table, nothing on the house floor, we worked every angle and employed every tactic. This was a concerted team effort. We came closer than we ever have to getting our county re-created."

The most powerful woman in Georgia then praised her team. "I am proud of my team, my legislators, my floor leaders, and those who supported this initiative." In reflection, Jones added that her Milton supporters "reached very high" and just missed passage by a hair. "We were so close," Jones admitted. "But North Fulton has firm resolve to create their own county government. Yesterday was not the end, it's just the beginning. We will not be denied," she predicted, firmly. "The effort to re-create Milton County will not stop until we are successful."

Jones recounted that she met with a plethora of Fulton County advocates over the last month searching for alternative solutions to breaking up the behemoth county of Fulton, but didn't buy into any of the alternatives. "I met with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Fulton County Commissioners, Atlanta City Council members and other legislators", Jones explained, "but all I got for not going forward was the enticement of false promises, unfilled commitments and [political] rhetoric."

FULTON COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY IN DISARRAY?

The future of the Fulton County Republican Party is now in question, as a large contingent of members, the bulk of whom are in North Fulton County, want to create thir own "Milton County Republican Party" and abandon the Fulton organization. "Why have a Party when we can't even stand together on this fundamental issue," said one GOP elected official, who preferred anonymity, until an official announcement is made public.

Johns Creek Councilwoman Liz Hausmann and Fulton County Commissioner Lynne Riley both stopped by the capitol to check on progress but ended the day disappointed.

"I'm naturally disappointed, we've been waiting for this for 15 years," said Hausmann. "We've made more progress this year than ever. Seems like we have a great amount of support statewide now and I think everyone is aware of the issue."

 Hausmann said she spoke to several anti-Milton legislators, including Scott. "He felt like Milton should be voted on by all of Fulton, not just the north," Hausmann said. "I reminded him that for the Johns Creek vote, only Johns Creek voted.

Bodker said he looks forward to Scott's return to North Fulton next week, in search for gubernatorial primary votes. "Good luck on that one," Bodker quipped.

OTHER DEAD BILLS

Plenty of other would-be legislative vehicles turned back into pumpkins at midnight. 

One was a major bipartisan campaign finance reform authored by Willard. It would have capped transfers from one politician's campaign fund to another's at $10,000 per election cycle, and leftovers in a retiring politician's fund would have to go to charitable organizations.  It also placed a limit of $100 on gifts from lobbyists to state officers. 

Also skipped was a Democratic ethics bill that would have allowed the State Ethics Commission to take more complaints from the public and specifically ban state personnel from threatening the use of state resources for personal purposes of coercion, retaliation, or punishment.  That bill was crafted after the ignominious exit of ex-House Speaker Glenn Richardson, whose ex-wife released texts in which he threatened her with harassment by state law enforcement. 

A proposed $1-per-pack cigarette tax was stubbed out; it did not come up for House floor debate.

Neither did "Buckhead Ed's" idea to cap property tax assessment rises at three percent annually.

However, it's not unheard of for dead ideas to reappear as amendments on other bills. 

There are ten working days left in the Georgia General Assembly session.