By
Randy Evans
During the course of two weeks, Georgia lost two great Americans. Each contributed in their own way to transforming Georgia from the politics of the past to the foundations for the future.
The first mayor of Sandy Springs, Eva Galambos, died on April 19 at age 87. Like Newt Gingrich and his drive to become the first Republican speaker in over four decades, Mayor Galambos had a four decade dream: the formation of a new city within the confines of Fulton County. Her dream came true with the creation of the city of Sandy Springs.
She was a true believer in the decentralization of government so that decisions having the greatest effect on people are made at the level of government closest to them. Of course, selling one more layer of government to a Republican-led legislature was no easy task – especially when Georgia already has 1,100 municipalities and 159 counties.
But Mayor Galambos understood that sometimes the current system is just not working notwithstanding the overall problem of too many local governments. Sometimes, the remedy begins with creating something that actually works rather than living with old, outdated political structures that do not.
And so Mayor Galambos wrote “Sandy Springs: A Case on Centralization of Local Government.” It can be found at http://www.georgiapolicy.org/sandy-springs-a-case-study-on-centralization-of-local-government/
It seems a bit of an oxymoron to couple “centralization” with “the lowest levels of government.” But, the fact is that it works.
Georgians, indeed Americans, are much smarter than most politicians give them credit for. And, they are indeed very good at holding government officials and government entities accountable to deliver on the their promises.
After all, if you see a local official around town every week, it is much easier to hold that person accountable than someone seen only during election years. And so, with her pleasant persistence, Sandy Springs was incorporated in 2005, and Mayor Galambos served as its first mayor until 2014.
Notably, she was not the mean-spirited, acrimonious politician who dominates so much of the political stage today. Make no mistake, she was tenacious. But she set about her purpose in a courageous and caring way, never confusing tenacity with bitterness.
Over the course of her life her accomplishments were significant. After her family escaped the Nazis in the 1930s, and eventually settled in America, she did many amazing things. She was part of the first class at Georgia State University to grant Ph.D. degrees to women. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics in 1969.
In the end, she lost her battle with cancer, but she won a bigger war – she left the world a better place than she found it. She was the mother to a new city.
Rusty Paul, Sandy Springs’ current mayor, put it best: “She cared and nurtured the city, and the strength of the community is due greatly to her unwavering love and devotion to creating something better for us all.”
Less than two weeks later, Georgia lost another stalwart. Georgia State Representative Harry Geisinger lost his battle with leukemia at age 81.
Just as Mayor Galambos was beginning her 40-year quest for the creation of Sandy Springs, Representative Geisinger was first elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1968.
When Representative Geisinger took office in 1969, Democrats not only ruled Georgia, they dominated the entire state political landscape. But that did not dissuade him from working hard to change that political landscape.
In 1974, he ran for the Republican nomination for governor. Although he did not succeed, he did not give up.
President Ronald Reagan appointed Representative Geisinger as the administrator of the Southeastern Power Administration. From there, he served in a variety of capacities until, in 2004, he was reelected to the Georgia House where he represented Roswell, and served until his passing.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Representative Geisinger grew up in Chicago, Ill. Later, he served as a quartermaster during the Korean War in the U.S. Navy.
But it was his humble beginnings that so illustrated his career. At age 7, he sold magazines door-to-door. He never lost that door-to-door touch when he served in the Georgia General Assembly.
The most amazing part of his story is the era it spans–starting from the time Georgia Republicans could meet in a phone booth until 2002, when Georgia elected its first Republican governor in more than a century, and then, becoming a member of the class that regained control of the Georgia House in the 2004 general election.
Representative Geisinger saw firsthand what it was like to go from being a part of a marginalized minority to a dominating majority. Yet, he remained the same. As Georgia House Speaker David Ralston put it: “Harry was a principled public servant who valued hard work and integrity above all.”
Both he and Mayor Galambos will be missed.
Randy Evans is an attorney and columnist.