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Fayette Demos to push district voting

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@thecitizennews.com

Fayette Democrats, angry at President Bush’s narrow national victory over John Kerry on Nov. 2 and the large margin given Republicans by local voters, say they are more committed than ever to changing the face of county politics.

They vow both electoral and legal fights to get district voting installed for the Fayette County Commission.

Peachtree City attorney Judy Chidester, chairman of the Fayette County Democratic Committee, joked that local liberals spent several days “drinking in misery” after the election but now have risen ready to fight.

“The only upside to the country and state being run by Republicans now is there will be somebody to blame when things go wrong,” she said. “And things will go wrong.”

Of Fayette’s 36 voting precincts, just two with large African-American populations in the far north end of the county went for Kerry-Edwards.

The Kenwood and Europe precincts also were the only ones that went for Democrat Denise Majette over winner Republican Johnny Isakson in the U.S. Senate race.

Both also happen to be the only precincts in the county that are part of the 13th U.S. Congressional District, regained by Democrat David Scott. The rest of Fayette is part of the 8th District, which was won Nov. 2 by Republican Lynn Westmoreland.

Chidester said that despite the fact the GOP will now control both houses of the state legislature as well as the governorship, she is encouraged that the Fayette County delegation will be majority Democrat.

That’s important, because the fight they’ve chosen to start involves challenging the at-large method by which Fayette County elects members to the County Commission and Board of Education.

Each is made up of five members who must live in one of five districts to run for office, but are voted on countywide.

Critics say that method of electing officials makes it difficult for minorities or Democrats to win office in a county that is largely white and Republican.

“We’re making that our number one priority,” said Chidester, adding that she and other Democrats think that “at a minimum” they could win two seats on the County Commission easily with district representation.

“What we want to try to do is make the County Commission look like the county does,” she said.

In the General Assembly, Fayette will be served next year by three Democrat House members — Virgil Fludd, Roberta Abdul Salaam and Darryl Jordan — and one Democrat in the Senate, Valencia Seay.

Of those, Fludd is the only one who actually lives in the county, in Tyrone. All represent districts that include only small portions of north Fayette. All lost in their Fayette precincts but won overwhelmingly in Clayton and Fulton counties.

On the Republican side, Republican Dan Lakly had no trouble winning election to the newly created 72nd House seat, which is entirely contained within central Fayette. And Republican John Yates, who lives in Griffin, serves sections of Brooks and Woolsey in south Fayette.

The County Commission could decide on its own to change the way its membership is elected, but Chidester said that’s not going to happen.

When asked in the past, commissioners have been cool to the idea.

“They’re not going to do anything,” she said. “The commissioners are not going to give up their power base.”

Chidester said she is confident one of the Democrat members of the delegation will sponsor a bill to force the county to change to district voting, but even that remains a long-shot.

The measure would have to gain the support of the entire delegation before it would be taken seriously by the full legislature and passed into law.

If all else fails, Chidester said Democrats have a plan for the 2006 election cycle, when two seats on the commission — including that of Chairman Greg Dunn — will be up for grabs.

“We’ll pick a qualified candidate to run in the district, such as a black woman, who then has to face voters countywide,” said Chidester. Assuming the Democrat candidate would lose, that person would then willingly file a lawsuit against the county charging the at-large method is a violation of the Voting Rights Act.

If such as case were to go to trial, Chidester is confident the county would lose.

“In every state in every county where that has been challenged it has been thrown out by the courts as being unconstitutional,” she said.

Chidester said the party will focus on recruiting a willing candidate over the next year, with some already having expressed interest.

Feeding off the emotions of the recent election, the Democrats will also be looking to swell the local ranks, she said.

“We’ll be talking to people, e-mailing people, writing letters to the paper and keeping our eyes on the opposition,” she said, adding that since Nov. 2 her phone hasn’t stopped ringing from folks wanting to know how to join the local Democrats.

“We think we’re going to make steady advances,” Chidester said. “You pick yourself up and go on and see what happens.”