Coming in with a bang

One of the more entertaining bits of political theater going around the community - and that I've heard from numerous folks in just the past two days - involves an encounter during the recent training session for incoming commissioners, councilmen, etc. hosted by the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education.

The way the story goes is that Georgia Supreme Court Justice Harold Melton delivered an invocation prior to one of the lunchtime meals. Ed Robinson, the commissioner-elect for Athens-Clarke County's District Six, apparently didn't take kindly to the prayer.

Robinson, who along with Mike Hamby and Andy Herod was undergoing the required training session, opted to speak out. He asked Melton, in front of a packed conference hall of his peers, how the justice would rule on a case involving the separation of church and state given that he had just delivered a prayer to a room full of elected officials.

Melton calmly - and sarcastically - replied 'well, when I get a case like that in front of me, I'll let you know.'

Now, one could point out that the ACCG is merely an advocacy group that is not an official entity of the state government, thus meaning Melton's prayer was actually rather harmless and perfectly legal (unless there's a provision in the Georgia Constitution I'm unaware of that prohibits Georgia Supreme Court Justices from believing in one particular faith), but I guess that isn't really here or there.

UPDATE: Hence why this is all theater, I've gotten word from a pair of folks who have said that Melton did not say the prayer and that Robinson's question came during a Q-and-A session with the justice.