Top 10 legacies of Zell’s political career

After eight years as governor and four as a U.S. senator, Zell Miller has announced his plans to retire when his term ends in 2004. What better time to reflect on his years of public service? Here, then, is the best and the worst of the Miller legacy. You decide which is which.

>> 10. HOPE scholarships and statewide pre-kindergarten

>> 9. A tax on the stupid (aka the Georgia Lottery)

>> 8. The Zell Miller bust at the Zell Miller rest stop on the taxpayer-funded Zell Miller Mountain Parkway

>> 7. Higher salaries for teachers

>> 6. Thousands of “Build Your Baby’s Brain Through the Power of Music” CDs now being used as beer coasters (as governor, Miller got Sony to pony up for the classical albums based on a flawed study that they’d make babies smarter)

>> 5. Billions of dollars for roads to help his Gwinnett County cronies get rich off land deals and traffic congestion

>> 4. Air pollution so bad that the federal government took away our road money

>> 3. Federal tax cut for the rich; a federal budget deficit for your children!

>> 2. Saxby Chambliss in the U.S. Senate

>> 1. Proof that a man who looks and sounds like Snuffy Smith still can snooker Washington??