I have a story up today on the new push by conservative lawmakers to challenge the Federal Reserve by promoting the use of gold and silver currency at the state level. So far, Utah is the lone state to pass such legislation (as of last week, gold and silver coins are now legal tender in the Beehive State), but more than a dozen states have considered “hard money” proposals since the start of 2009.
Georgia Republican Rep. Bobby Franklin, who sponsored a bill that’s currently before his state legislature mandating the use of gold and silver for paying state taxes, did not respond to multiple requests for comment for the article. That might be because, as his secretary told me, “he’s a little media-shy.” Or it might be because of a story my colleague Jen Phillips wrote two weeks ago, about a bill Franklin sponsored that would potentially proscribe prescribe the death penalty for women who have miscarriages. Or maybe the two are related.
But I’ve buried the lede. This is what you get when you call his home phone number:
This is State Represenative Bobby Franklin. Thank you for calling to give me encouragement about my sponsorship of House Bill 1, recognizing that pre-natal murder is murder. I’m not able to take that encouragement right now, so at the tone please leave your name, number, and a message.
Emphasis mine. For the record, we weren’t calling to offer encouragement.
