By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

Georgia Republicans are rattling their sabers this election year, promising an all-out battle to take control of at least one house of the General Assembly.

That's especially important to political leaders in heavily Republican Fayette County, where legislators have complained for years that Democratic leaders have repeatedly bottled up their bills in committee.

Recent press releases from the state Republican leadership have cited Gov. Roy Barnes' recently passed education reform bill and other Barnes programs as key issues that Republicans will capitalize on as they make their bid for dominance.

Local party chairman Eric Dial said this week he thinks the GOP has a real chance of making Georgia a two-party state.

“There's a distinct possibility we could gain control of one or both of the chambers,” said Dial. He said Republicans always turn out in higher numbers in presidential election years, and with a growing number of Republicans moving into the state in recent years, that gives his party an edge.

Judy Chidester, vice chairman of Fayette's Democratic Party, begs to disagree. “Everybody gets more active in a presidential year than any other time,” she said. “They've raised a good amount of money for [GOP presidential candidate George W.] Bush, but Gore has raised a lot of money too. “Republicans always try to take control of the House and Senate. I don't think they're going to do it this time,” she said.

One thing both party leaders agree on: 2000 is an important year in state politics.

“We all see this as a really important year,” said Chidester, “primarily because of reapportionment.”

With new census figures available, the winners in this year's elections will be in charge of drawing new district lines and may be able to use that process to ensure future dominance in some key districts.

As evidence of the importance of this year's election, Dial points to Gov. Barnes' use of his own campaign war chest to finance Democratic candidates in close races.

Dial said he believes voters are ready for a change. “Voters are dissatisfied with the policies and initiatives being pushed forward by the Democrats,” he said. “Education reform particularly has stirred people up.

“The people want smaller government, they want less government, they want more efficient government, and you don't get more efficient government by creating more bureaucracies,” Dial said, referring to Barnes' creation of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority and the creation of additional quasi-governmental groups in the education reform bill.

“We've already got the Georgia Department of Transportation. We didn't need another governing body,” he said. “With their mentality of bigger government and more bureaucracies, the voters are going to make a statement that we want less government and therefore we want Republicans in charge,” said Dial.

“I think Gov. Barnes is extremely popular,” Chidester said with confidence. “A lot of people I talk to are teachers, and they generally seem to be happy with Barnes.”

Barnes' plans are intelligent and well thought-out, she said. “He knows where he wants to go and he knows how to get there. He's not as reactive as some of our governors have been in the past.”

Dial also accused the governor and the state Democratic leadership of purposely increasing power at the state level and taking control away from local governments.

Chidester said she has no problem with that. “If you think that the program is sensible and we have a progression of how we're going to get from point A to point B, that's good,” she said. “It would be different if we were handing over power to people who have grandiose ideas with no plans how to implement them.

“Local control would be great,” she added, “if you thought your local officials were doing a bang-up job,” but she cited frequent and loud criticism of Fayette government from residents, many of them active Republicans, as evidence that local control is not all that hot of an idea.

“You've got to have some confidence that the people who are local know what they are doing,” she said, adding, “I'm really happy with Speaker [Tom] Murphy too. I worry about what will happen when he's no longer around.”

Dial and Chidester both expressed displeasure with a state Democratic response to Republican optimism about the elections. In a press release last week, state Democratic Chairman David Worley pointed out that Republicans have lost three seats even before the election has begun, with two defections to the Democratic Party and one Republican in a heavily Democratic district deciding to retire.

The local leaders both criticized state Rep. Randy Sauder of Smyrna, who switched parties from Republican to Democrat on the final day of qualifying, leaving no time for another Republican to run.

“I don't care what party I'm in, that was unethical,” said Dial. “If you decide midway to change parties, then you should step down and start over,” agreed Chidester, though she added a caveat. “We've seen Republicans do it too,” she said.