Wednesday, May 1, 2002
|
Wednesday, May 1, 2002 |
|
Upson, Pike counties join Fayette and Coweta in new 28th district
By JOHN
MUNFORD
Geographically, state Sen. Mitch Seabaugh's 28th District grew significantly thanks to the new and approved redistricting map for Georgia. In addition to parts of Fayette, Coweta and Spalding counties, Seabaugh has picked up a large chunk of Troup County and several precincts in Pike County. The geography is such that some of Seabaugh's future constituents will have to make long-distance calls to reach their Senator, he said. Seabaugh plans to run again, hoping he'll get the chance to see through progress that began in his freshman two-year term. Seabaugh sees the new precinct as making his job tougher, especially since he doesn't turn away constituents from any of the counties in his district just because they don't live in one of his precincts. "It will make it more difficult to represent people in my district," Seabaugh said. Locally, Seabaugh lost a few precincts in Fayetteville and east Fayette. He gained a new precinct giving him constituents in the town of Tyrone also. In the big picture, Seabaugh thinks his district's changes were "above average" compared to some of the more drastic changes in other districts. "It just goes to show that some people wanted to have political control and wanted to maintain that control," Seabaugh said. "That's just not right; just not fair." But just because the Justice Department has approved the second version of the Senate redistricting map doesn't mean the issue is dead, Seabaugh said. Several lawsuits have been filed over the Senate redistricting map, one alleging that it violates the U.S. Constitution's provision of "one person, one vote." While finalizing those could take several years, the process could speed up if Republicans gain more power in the legislature and the governor's office in the upcoming elections, Seabaugh noted.
|
||