Wednesday, May 2, 2001
|
Wednesday, May 2, 2001 |
|
Fayette to be split with 3 U.S. reps? John Lewis as north Fayette's congressman? Goal: Unshared state House reps By DAVE HAMRICK
Fayette County could have as many as three congressmen when state lawmakers get through redrawing district boundaries this summer. "I don't think there's any way we're going to keep it from being any less than two," said state Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, who is one of Fayette's representatives in addition to the House minority leader. Westmoreland is a member of the special Reapportionment Committee that is working to redraw district lines to adjust for new population figures in the 2000 U.S. Census. Fayette County commissioners last week passed a resolution urging the state Legislature to keep Fayette in one congressional district the 3rd and asking that the county have only two state House districts, both of them fully within the county. Westmoreland told The Citizen he'll work to that end, even though it would mean Westmoreland himself, a Sharpsburg resident, would no longer represent the county. "That's my goal, even though I would lose Fayette County," he said. But it's possible the county could be divided between more than the current two state House and two state Senate districts, he said. Currently, all of Fayette is in the 3rd Congressional District, represented by Republican Mac Collins. With redistricting, much of north Fayette may wind up in the 5th District, represented by Democrat John Lewis, he said. "South Fulton [which makes up most of Lewis' current district] has lost population," Westmoreland said. The Legislature must create two completely new congressional districts to adjust for additional population, and how Fayette County gets carved up depends in part on where the two new districts go, he said. One plan being considered would create an east Georgia district, from Augusta down through the Savannah River corridor. If that plan is approved, "I think Fayette County might be kept intact," he said. If not, a plan to create a new district on the western side of the state might cause Fayette to be split, he said. Counties like Heard, Clayton and Spalding would be in the 3rd District along with lower Fayette; northern Fayette would go into the 5th District. The district maps currently being considered have been drawn mostly by demographers with no regard to political considerations, Westmoreland said. It's one of those that showed Fayette in three congressional districts. "I told them this is absolutely not going to work," he said. The Reapportionment Committee is meeting almost once a week in public hearings and twice a week privately, Westmoreland said. Meanwhile, Greg Hecht, who represents northern Fayette in the state Senate and is on the Senate Reapportionment Committee, said there's little to report at this point. In early meetings, he said, "There are some pretty well-defined areas of contention, but it's been polite contentiousness so far." Commissioners' request that Fayette have two self-contained House members and only one congressman "would probably make sense," Hecht said, but added talks are too preliminary to predict what might happen.
|
||