Wednesday, August 15, 2001
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Wednesday, August 15, 2001 |
| North Fayette
paired with Atlanta in new House map
By DAVE HAMRICK And JOHN THOMPSON
Fayette County will be represented by five members of the state House under a redistricting plan passed by a subcommittee Monday. State legislators are meeting in special session to redraw district boundaries to account for shifts in population, an exercise repeated every ten years following the U.S. Census. Thirty-four representatives would be placed in 24 districts represented by more than one member, a practice that was common in Georgia politics in the '70s and '80s, but dropped in 1991 in response to federal concerns that it had been used in the past to dilute black voting strength. Under the plan, state Rep. Kathy Cox, now representing Fayette's 105th District, would have to run for reelection in a new district that includes south Fayette along with parts of three other counties: Henry, Spalding and Butts. More importantly, she would be running for one of two seats in a district that includes three sitting Republican representatives, herself, John Yates (current 106th) and John Lunsford (current 109th). "It's unbelievable," Cox said Monday afternoon. "What they're doing is packing Republicans into these multi-member districts and pitting us against each other. Fayette County is getting the short end of the stick in all of this." The new 84th District would be twice as large as current House districts, as large as the average Senate district with about 95,000 people, Cox said, adding that her biggest concern is the amount of money that would be required to run for the multi-member seats. All candidates in a multi-member district would run district-wide. "This would double and triple the cost of campaigning," she said. "Everybody is upset already about the money in politics. Now you have a Democrat-controlled Legislature making it hard for people to run for office. How are regular people supposed to get in there and get involved in politics? "It goes against the grain of everything our form of government is supposed to stand for," added Cox, who teaches government in high school. North Fayette also would be represented by a multi-member district, the 49th, stretching into the city of Atlanta. A small sliver of Peachtree City would be in a new single-member 85th District, encompassing much of Lynn Westmoreland's current 28th. Westmoreland, who is the House minority leader, said he is happy with his new district, but not happy with the overall plan. Fayette's interests are not compatible with those in downtown Atlanta, and the new 49th district makes no sense, he said. "We're a suburban community," he said, adding that the whole process is "a raw deal for Fayette and Coweta counties." In the Senate districts, Fayette is tied in with Riverdale. "There's nothing wrong with Riverdale, but every zoning meeting I've attended, people have said they don't want to look like Riverdale," Westmoreland said. He also suggested that Democrats may have intended to pit him against Cox for reelection, but missed. His new district stops just across the street from Cox's house. "I guess they gave me a great district to cause dissension within my caucus," he added. Westmoreland said he planned to work all day Tuesday and Wednesday on strategy before the vote Wednesday. Democrats defend the plan, saying multi-member districts will give counties more voice and more representation. When cities and counties approach the state for funding for projects or help with issues, they'll have more than one representative to plead their case, Democrats say. But the lone Democrat in Fayette's legislative delegation, Sen. Greg Hecht, declined to support or oppose the House plan, saying he hasn't seen a completed version of it yet. "I'm not a big fan of multi-member districts," he said. The full House will now consider the proposed House districts, along with a new district plan for the Senate, approved by that body Friday. When the House passes its plan, that plan will also go to the Senate for approval. If the House and Senate make changes in each other's plans, the plans will go to a joint committee to iron out the differences before final adoption.
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