flo.rankin@gaflnews.com



HOMERVILLE – The first woman in Georgia to own and operate a Ford dealership, Peg Blitch was first elected to the state Senate from the Seventh District in 1992.

Soon after, she became the first woman to chair a standing Senate committee in some 40 years. She currently is chairman of the Economic Development, Tourism and Cultural Affairs committee, serves as secretary of the Natural Resources committee and is a member of the Appropriations, Reapportionment and Natural Resources committees.

Blitch, a Democrat, represents Georgia on the Federal Pre-emption and State-Federal Affairs committee of the Southern Legislative Conference and on the Reapportionment Task Force of the National Conference of State Legislatures. She is Georgia vice chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Prior to her election to the Senate, Blitch served one term in the Georgia House of Representatives and was judge of the Clinch County Probate Court from 1976 to 1980.

During the 1996 session, Blitch steered legislation through the Senate requiring prison officials to automatically transfer an inmate who commits an assault on a guard to a prison with a higher level of security.

Active in community and political affairs, Blitch was a co-convenor of the Committee for the Georgia Network of Elected Women Officials and is a longtime board member and former chairperson of the Georgia Student Finance Commission. She formerly chaired the Clinch County Library Board and is president of the Clinch County Nursing Home.



To contact city editor Florence Rankin, call 382-4321, ext. 209.