National Bar Association Awards 1ST Barack Obama Political Leadership Award
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Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) -- The National Bar Association (NBA) presented Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker with its first annual Barack Obama Political Leadership Award at its 84th annual meeting in San Diego, California on Friday. The award recognizes Baker's pioneering achievements as a public servant and elected official.
Baker, a Democrat from Stone Mountain, is Georgia's first African-American Attorney General, having served in the office since 1997. During this time, he has been the only elected African-American Attorney General in the nation. He is also the only African American to be elected by his colleagues to serve as the president of the 102 year old National Association of Attorneys General.
As Attorney General, Baker has successfully managed the state's legal affairs for more than two decades. He has always made protecting families and children a top priority. He promoted tough new laws against sexual predators who target children via the Internet, and has aggressively worked with local prosecutors and police to bring those who target children online to justice. Baker has also been a leading voice against domestic violence. He fought to make it a crime to commit an act of domestic violence in the presence of a child and he's worked with local law enforcement to fight family violence.
Prior to his service as Attorney General, Baker served for five terms in the Georgia House of Representatives, including several years as the Floor Leader for then-Governor Zell Miller. As Floor Leader, Baker led the fight to pass some of the most significant legislation in modern Georgia history, including the institution of the state lottery and the lottery-funded HOPE Scholarship program.
He was the lead sponsor of the largest tax cut in Georgia history -the removal of the state sales tax on groceries. He also led the fight to pass tough new laws against drunk driving, strengthening the state's notoriously weak, outdated drunk driving laws, and helped bring Georgia to the forefront in the battle against DUI.
"I am humbled and honored to be the first person to receive the National Bar Association's Barack Obama Award. I hope to live up to the honor by continuing to bring people together to solve the tough problems facing Georgia," said Attorney General Baker.
The National Bar Association (NBA) was founded in 1925, and is the nation's oldest and largest national association of predominately African-American lawyers and judges. It has 84 affiliate chapters throughout the United States and affiliations in Canada, the United Kingdom, Africa and the Caribbean. It represents a professional network of over 20,000 lawyers, judges, educators and law students. The objectives of the NBA are "to advance the science of jurisprudence; improve the administration of justice; preserve the independence of the judiciary and to uphold the honor and integrity of the legal profession; to promote professional and social intercourse among the members of the American and the international bars; to promote legislation that will improve the economic condition of all American citizens, regardless of race, sex or creed in their efforts to secure a free and untrammeled use of the franchise guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States; and to protect the civil and political rights of the citizens and residents of the United States."
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