Wednesday, August 22, 2001

Together, we have accomplished a lot. We passed a $2.8 billion dollar property tax cut to exempt the first $50,000 of the fair market value of all Georgian's homes over the next four years. We have passed the Georgia Mentoring Act, expansion of the DNA Database for convicted felons, Natural Gas Billing Relief legislation, the Mental Health Care Ombudsman Program, Safe Schools legislation, criminal background checks for children's daycare workers, Elder Abuse Prevention legislation, and tough DUI laws.

Some of these measures were made known to you inside this newspaper and some were probably not newsworthy. [Two weeks ago,] an issue was deemed newsworthy, and I agree it was newsworthy. I had the opportunity to vote to make Fayette County more powerful within the state legislature.

The way to make a county more powerful in the Legislature is to give a county more representation. This rule is an old and hard rule of politics. The more votes generated from a region, then the more powerful that region becomes. I voted to increase Fayette's senate delegation to two Republican senators and one Democrat senator, each with about one-third of Fayette's population. Fayette County will now have a minimum of 12 committee assignments, and a larger team of influence down at the Capitol. Fayette should have representation on the appropriations and rules due to numbers, which would be great for Fayette County.

The decision was made to put Fayette's citizens ahead of partisan politics. The partisan move would have been to pack all of Fayette's votes with Coweta into a sole senate district and one vote. Instead, I voted so that Fayette County will now have three senators with two out of three senators being Republicans and one senator being a Democrat.

No matter which way the senate goes in 2002, Fayette will have strong representation. In other words, I voted so that Fayette County would gain a 33 percent increase in Republican power as opposed to Democrat power.

The reason I voted this way is because I believe that the portions of Fayette County south of the 34th District are more Republican leaning than Democrat leaning, and I wanted to make sure that a continuity of interest was represented. The two Republican senate districts include to the west portions of Fayette, Coweta, and Spalding counties, which form a strong Republican district. The other portion of Fayette includes portions of Fayette, Henry, and other Republican strongholds. Both of the two Republican senate districts have a continuity of interest with Fayette and are Republican leaning. As a result, Fayette County becomes more powerful as opposed to less powerful.

Presently, Fayette County is divided into two senate districts. Giving Fayette County one more senator makes Fayette County more powerful. This rule of power has always been that more votes allow more power. More votes on different committees increase power, also. Clayton County is extremely powerful in the legislature because it has seven legislators representing it. The increase in the number of legislators for Fayette County is a strong positive action.

However, due to certain criticisms from certain individuals, I voted to recommit the map along with every other senator Aug. 8, 2001 for further changes. I have asked for certain changes as well. Each vote put my party's interest well behind the interest of Fayette County, and I disagree strongly with statements otherwise.

In addition, Fayette County benefits from having bipartisan representation in it. I wish I had the opportunity to address the statement about a three-way split of Fayette County earlier.

The people of Fayette County are tremendous, and I have worked harder for Fayette County to bring funds into Fayette County than for any other county in my senate district.

As many will remember, last year we brought over $300,000 to Fayette County for park land. This paper decided to put "GOP Targets Hecht" as its cover story and briefly mentioned the $300,000 grant inside the paper.

In the article last week, I was not asked about why I voted for three senators for Fayette County. The reason is simple greater philosophical and financial influence in the legislature for Fayette County families and businesses.

I work extraordinarily hard to bring funds to Fayette County. I have always put the people of Fayette County ahead of politics, and I always will. I appreciate the opportunity to serve on a public service team to help Fayette County. I appreciate the publisher of this paper inviting me to write this column.

Greg K. Hecht

State Senator

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