State Senate race yet to be decided

By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

Bryan Hilton of Lithia Springs will challenge incumbent state Sen. Greg Hecht for this 34th District post in the Nov. 7 General Election.

Neither Hilton, a Republican, nor Hecht, a Democrat, faced opposition in the party primaries in July.

Now that the primaries and runoffs are concluded, the race is in full swing. The district encompasses parts of Fayette, Clayton, Douglas and south Fulton counties.

Bryan Hilton
Hilton has vacated his post as mayor of Lithia Springs to seek the senate post. “I felt like I could do more for my district by running for state Senate than I could as mayor of a small town,” Hilton said.

The central theme of his campaign, he said, is restoring local control to local governments.

“There are some instances in which you have to have more centralized control,” he said, “but generally the decisions made closer to home are better for home.”

Three issues stand out as most important, he said.

“First, we must improve our schools,” he said, adding that he believes the governor’s A-plus Education Reform Act, passed last year, “was a disaster for our schools. One of my top priorities will be to address that bill and revisit it.”

He said he will sit down with educators, “the one thing that has not been done,” and get their ideas for how to improve education.

His second issue is taxes, he said. “We have way too many taxes, and my experience as mayor of a small town is that the state of Georgia imposes lots of hidden taxes that they pass on to local governments. They end up sapping the wallets of the everyday person.”

Smart growth is his third hot button, Hilton said, adding that by “smart growth” he means locally controlled growth. “Each county I cover has different growth needs,” he said. “Decisions on growth need to be made closer to home.”

Specifically, he added, those decisions should not be made by a superagency like the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.

“Local people best know what they need for their communities,” he said.

Because the 34th District covers parts of four counties, Hilton said he will be on the road quite a bit between now and November. “Travel will be a major part of the campaign,” he said.

He also will use traditional campaign methods like direct mail appeals, and is willing to take part in debates or forums if any nonprofit groups will sponsor them.

Although he doesn’t have the name recognition of the incumbent, Hilton said he believes he has a good chance of winning. “I think my odds are quite good,” he said. “More people [in the primaries] voted Republican than Democratic in the 34th District.”

Greg Hecht

Hecht is nearing the end of his first term as a state senator, and said he is proud of what he has done so far.

He successfully authored numerous bills in the 2000 session of the state General Assembly, including a measure creating a DNA database to help law enforcement officers find crime suspects, a mental health ombudsman bill designed to help protect mentally disabled people, and a requirement for criminal background checks of day care workers, foster parents and adoption applicants.

He is chairman of the Corrections, Correctional Institutions and Properties Committee, vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee, chairman of the Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommtitee and a member of the Defense, Science and Technology Committee.

He said he also is proud of tax cut legislation passed in the 2000 session, including a four-year moratorium on unemployment taxes that will save businesses $1 billion, and a seven-year plan to exempt the first $50,000 of a home’s value from property taxes.

“There are just a lot of issues we want the citizens to be aware of,” said Hecht, adding that he is spending a good bit of time in Fayette County during the weeks leading up to the election.

“I’m trying to meet with citizens out in the community and let them know what we are about,” he said.

Hecht also points with pride to a $350,000 grant he secured for Fayette County’s McCurry Park, and $150,000 for Tyrone’s recreation programs.

In 2001, Hecht said he would like to work for more improvements in education, including a statewide school resource officer program. “We need to put preventive measures in place, and they [resource officers] can also serve as roll models,” he said.

Continued emphasis on Georgia’s goal of attracting and recruting technology industries also is on his agenda, he said. “It’s the future of Georgia,” he said.

A native of Columbus, Ga., Hecht is a lawyer living in Jonesboro with his wife, Cherie, and daughter.

A graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, he served four years as an assistant district attorney and two years as a county attorney before being elected to a seat in the state House of Representatives. he served one term in the House and was elected to the Senate in 1998.

He received the 1999 Georgia Council on Aging’s Legislator of the Year Award, the 1998 Court Appointed Special Advocates’ Speak Up for a Child Legislative Award, and the 1997 Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice’s Community Service Award.