Deal-Barge Exchange Shows How Leaders Communicate (or Don’t) When They’re Election Opponents

On Wednesday, January 15, 2014, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announced his proposal to increase spending on elementary and high school education by $547 million.  One person who said he had not heard about the plan was the man in charge of the state’s K-12 public education system:  Superintendent John Barge.  Barge wants the Governor’s job; he’s challenging Deal in the 2014 Republican primary.

In separate conversations with the two men on Wednesday, WABE’s Denis O’Hayer found how little communication takes place between some key state leaders on important issues, when they’re preparing to run against each other–and each blames the other.