Mr. Fludd, surely if you would listen to ALL of your constituents, you would see the real light. We are glad you live in Fayette County; your children have been blessed by going to Fayette schools as have mine; but you are again trying to "con" our citizens into believing you have our "best interests in mind" by voting as you have on the many issues that have come before the house. As many of us have said before, you may live here but your interests are not in or for Fayette County, just the minority population that lives here. Your voting record (and I have kept up with it for quite some time) is filled with attempts to pass legislation giving minorities both in color and sexual orientation special rights and privileges over and above what the rest of us citizens have had to live under. Not once has your heart been for our bests interests as a county and again your record shows it. You have represented Clayton and Fulton counties quite well but the truth is Fayette has suffered as a whole from your personal interests!
What bothers me the most though is you choose to live in one of the safest communities in this great state but your voting has done nothing short of turning Fayette into another Clayton, Fulton or Dekalb county. As long as you have the minorities fooled you will get reelected so don't sweat it...

The purpose of district voting is not to bring home more bacon, Rep. Fludd. You are your own worst enemy when you suggest that, and you feed the objections of those who feel that pork-barrel politics is the inevitable result of district voting. Not all politicians are corrupt and believe in the inevitability of pork-barrel politics. For all his narrow-mindedness, Rep. Lakly can stand as an example of politicians who resist pork, which is the first step in reducing taxes.

You allude to tax fairness. There is no such thing. Children can't pay taxes (because they have no money), yet they claim a lot of tax dollars, starting with their schooling. No area can get back exactly what it pays in taxes, and there's no accountant in the world who can calculate exactly what an area receives in tax benefits. So this insistence on getting bacon back is a simply a sign of political piggishness. You need new role models in your party.

The real reason district voting can be good is in allowing voters to know politicians better and getting them closer to the voters. With the voting system we now have, we could have four or five candidates in each of three districts, giving us 12 to 15 candidates to get to know before we can vote. Or we could have (as in 2006) four or five candidates for each of two posts, giving us eight to ten candidates to get to know. That's too many. We end up with political forums where they're given two minutes each, and we don't get to know who we're really voting for.

With district voting, we the voters can study the four or five candidates we get. We can make them attend local meetings in our own area. We might even have some go door to door, talking to us. They, in turn, have a more limited group of voters they can try to get to know. They don't have to spend so much money running for office, so they don't have to raise so much money from special interests. We know these people a lot better, and once one is elected, we know where the buck stops. That's a lot better for democracy.

Your pork-barrel politics are screwing up what is a good thing. You've turned off a lot of citizens who could have supported your idea. I disagree completely with the idea (supported by close-minded Republicans) that pork-barrel politics is an inevitable consequence of district voting. Honest and intelligent candidates look for the general public good, and they don't have the narrow-minded view of just bringing bacon to their own voters.

Move back to Swoogieville!(Riverdale, Jonesboro, etc...)

Mr Fludd:

You are my representative. I resent you trying to create controversy in my community when there was none. In our County we believe "Fundamental Fairness" is having an elected official who represents his constituents - not one who shoves someone else's agenda down his constituents' throats. So start doing your job and start representing Fayette County’s majority – not Fayette County’s minority. (No racial pun intended.)

You said, "The taxes collected in the north are not equivalent to the money spent in the area for services from the county." Hmmm? I wonder where you came up with such clever hullabaloo….. Listen carefully: This is NOT Fulton County and under NO circumstances do we want a Bill Edwards clone or mouthpiece in Fayette County.

You talk about fairness. You say that “taxation without representation isn’t fair” yet you propose district changes that would prevent the ENTIRE County from electing the Commissioners who will be voting on issues and taxes that affect the ENTIRE County. Stop talking out of both sides of your mouth! Fayette County citizens are intelligent concerned citizens. We are not easily manipulated or conned by all of the double talk. We demand our right to continue electing our representatives. To deny us that right would result in "taxation without representation" and as you pointed out, that wouldn't be fair! You will not change our mind with a preposterous argument that we should change our boundaries just because they haven’t been changed since 1800. If no one with your mentality has come along in the past 200 years and managed to mess things up for us, then good for us! This is not about a reluctance to accept change. Fayette County is a County of excellence because we embrace and encourage change, IF it is change for the better.

Of course, we are not perfect, but Fayette County is by far the best County in the State of GA, so don’t insult us by telling us what we should want or that we should be more like Butts, Spalding, Henry, Clayton, Rockdale, Meriwether, Gwinnett, Newton, Cobb, Douglas, Troup, etc.. We will not lower our standards just to be like everyone else and we will not lower our standards for you.

Leoah Whineknott

Mr. Fludd,

A few items that I would like for you to sort out so that I may understand.

You state that "many" people in the north section of the county feel they are subsidizing those in the south. This is one classic reason why I cannot support district voting. It becomes secular. One group pitted against another for one sole reason, and that is selfishness. In true district voting, it is each district for itself and no attempt at improving the entire community. These people in the northern section feel that they are sponsoring the southern sections recreation, law enforcement, and social needs. Yet reverse the social economic roles and what is it called? Racism.

You refer to the current system as providing taxation without representation. One thing that the current system provides is taxation with representation. Each registered voter has representation as they get a say in each and every commission seat. You see, they get to vote for all 5 candidates and not just 1. Their candidate of choice may not win, but they still had the opportunity to voice their opinion, therefore they are represented. I for example did not vote for President Bill Clinton and likewise, will not vote for his wife. But, I was, or will be; afforded the opportunity to vote, so I never screamed that I was taxed without representation.

According to one of the charts in this websites blog, the black population accounted for 13.56% of Fayette County in 2003. What is it that should guarantee them a 20% stake in the commission makeup? Isn't this a democracy that we live in?

As for your assertion that this county's districts were drawn up in the 1800's, it was that way when you moved here. You moved here accepting that, so why should it change now?

Your issue of fundamental fairness I cannot agree with. Yes, you held town hall meetings, but you have so far refused to put this issue to a referendum to allow the citizens to choose, for I feel that you fear the outcome. By appearances, you are willing to allow citizens to choose so long as they agree with your stance. That I do not call representation. It is more dictatorial than representation. You claim to have heard from a number of people who support district voting, yet this very website is full of people who do not support it. In fact the majority of posters here do not support it. Exactly how many Fayette County residents do you represent and what percentage are they to the rest of the county?

Your attempt at a compromise has merit, yet let the people choose the system they want. Your small section of Fayette County that you represent may not like the way it is, but that is how it is and as you state, has been for over 200 years. Why change it now?

Of the counties you list that have district voting, how many are as successful as Fayette County? Certainly not Clayton County and I chose Fayette County for this very reason. Good education, good zoning control, and until recently, low crime.

Dana Kinser