Just wondering… Does the University of Georgia also train Tea Party activists? No?

Walter C. Jones of Online Athens reports.

30K sign petition demanding UGA stop training Obamacare navigators

Some opponents of the Affordable Care Act say they have 30,000 signatures on a petition seeking to repeal the federal health reform law, and they’re calling on the University of Georgia to stop providing “navigators” to help people comply with it.

Carolyn Cosby, chairwoman of the Canton T.E.A. Party & Georgians for Healthcare Freedom, said her organization is critical of the university for accepting a $1.7 million federal grant to provide navigators around the state.

“GFHCF is demanding that UGA stop assisting the federal government to set up Obamacare in Georgia and return the money,” she said. “This is an obvious attempt at an end-run around Georgia’s rejection of the state exchanges by our governor, and this must be stopped.”

University spokesman Tom Jackson declined to comment. School administrators generally try to avoid political controversy.

The signature total for the seven-month petition drive had reached 30,062 as of Friday.

“We have exceeded 27,000, the number of sign-ups on the national website enrolled in Obamacare in one state alone,” Cosby said.

Fewer than 1,400 Georgians have signed up so far for Obamacare-compliant health insurance on the federally-run exchange.

The conservative groups helping in the petition drive are hoping to get 34,000 signatures by year end so they can present it to state lawmakers in January in hopes they’ll sponsor a constitutional amendment invalidating the federal health reform law. They’re aiming for that number because it matches what would be required in most of the states that allow “public initiative” drives to put proposals on the ballot, a procedure not available in Georgia.