Mac Barber dies at 91

Longtime Georgians will remember Mac Barber’s name, even if they can’t explain exactly why they remember. Beginning in 1949, Barber was a state House member for 24 years. Then, from the mid-’70s to the mid-’80s, he served nearly five full five terms on the Public Service Commission before making an unsuccessful run for lieutenant

I recall talking to Barber – a pleasant, upbeat man who seemed to personify a nearly vanished strain of Southern courtliness – four years ago when he came out of the woodwork to run for his old PSC seat at the age of 86. At the time, we were concerned that his name recognition could help him unseat Bobby Baker, the public’s best representative on that board. But when I spoke to Barber it became clear that he had no campaign apparatus, no real strategy – it was just him, sitting in a rented office. My guess is that running for office gave him a reason to call old friends and associates, something he clearly enjoyed doing.

This morning’s obits by Dick Pettys and Ben Smith offer tantalizing hints of Barber’s many eccentricities, such as his habit of climbing out of his ground-floor window at the PSC rather than making the longer walk to the building’s exit. And the fact that he went years without cashing his state paychecks because he  wanting to donate the money to UGA.

It’s something of a shame that Georgia has few politicians these days who could be described as “a real character.” Seeing as our lawmakers are frequent sources of frustration and embarrassment, the least they could do for us is provide a little entertainment value as well.