House passes Redistricting fiasco
House approves Senate redistricting
by Tom Crawford on 1/31/2006
The House of Representatives voted 100-69 Tuesday, largely along party lines, to adopt a bill (SB 386) that redraws the lines of three Senate districts in northeast Georgia.
SB 386, which was supported by the Republican majority and opposed by Democrats, now goes to Gov. Sonny Perdue to sign into law.
While the bill makes several changes to three adjoining Senate districts, the major impact of SB 386 is to split Democratic-leaning Clarke County between two districts that Republicans want to keep in the GOP column.
Democrats have charged that the bill is an attempt to prevent Rep. Jane Kidd (D-Athens) from running for the Senate District 46 seat that Sen. Brian Kemp (R-Athens) is giving up to run for agriculture commissioner. Kemp’s brother-in-law, Republican attorney Bill Cowsert, also plans to run for the vacated seat.
“We know what this bill is really about,” said House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin). “It’s about taking Jane Kidd out of the Senate race. This is about rigging a state Senate election.”
Rep. Keith Heard (D-Athens) said that splitting Clarke County between two districts amounts to a “highjacking” of the county.
Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta), chairman of the House Reapportionment Committee, said the splitting of Clarke County was requested by the local chamber of commerce so that the county would have two senators representing it.
When reminded that all but one member of the Athens-Clarke County Commission was opposed to the redistricting, Franklin said, “this implies at least one commissioner thought it was fine.”
Tuesday’s debate reopened many of the old political wounds still festering from the 2001-02 reapportionment, when then-governor Roy Barnes and the Democratic majority tried to reconfigure the legislative districts to keep Democrats in power.
Rep. Edward Lindsey (R-Atlanta) noted that his community was cut up among several legislative districts during that reapportionment, and he said Democrats opposing SB 386 were “speaking empty political rhetoric, not principles.”
Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell) also voted against the 2001 House redistricting, even though he was part of the Democratic majority at the time.
“Folks, y’all are making the same mistake the Democrats did,” Powell said to the House Republicans. “Is this not the same thing Democrats were bashed and beat about just a few short years ago?”
by Tom Crawford on 1/31/2006
The House of Representatives voted 100-69 Tuesday, largely along party lines, to adopt a bill (SB 386) that redraws the lines of three Senate districts in northeast Georgia.
SB 386, which was supported by the Republican majority and opposed by Democrats, now goes to Gov. Sonny Perdue to sign into law.
While the bill makes several changes to three adjoining Senate districts, the major impact of SB 386 is to split Democratic-leaning Clarke County between two districts that Republicans want to keep in the GOP column.
Democrats have charged that the bill is an attempt to prevent Rep. Jane Kidd (D-Athens) from running for the Senate District 46 seat that Sen. Brian Kemp (R-Athens) is giving up to run for agriculture commissioner. Kemp’s brother-in-law, Republican attorney Bill Cowsert, also plans to run for the vacated seat.
“We know what this bill is really about,” said House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin). “It’s about taking Jane Kidd out of the Senate race. This is about rigging a state Senate election.”
Rep. Keith Heard (D-Athens) said that splitting Clarke County between two districts amounts to a “highjacking” of the county.
Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta), chairman of the House Reapportionment Committee, said the splitting of Clarke County was requested by the local chamber of commerce so that the county would have two senators representing it.
When reminded that all but one member of the Athens-Clarke County Commission was opposed to the redistricting, Franklin said, “this implies at least one commissioner thought it was fine.”
Tuesday’s debate reopened many of the old political wounds still festering from the 2001-02 reapportionment, when then-governor Roy Barnes and the Democratic majority tried to reconfigure the legislative districts to keep Democrats in power.
Rep. Edward Lindsey (R-Atlanta) noted that his community was cut up among several legislative districts during that reapportionment, and he said Democrats opposing SB 386 were “speaking empty political rhetoric, not principles.”
Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell) also voted against the 2001 House redistricting, even though he was part of the Democratic majority at the time.
“Folks, y’all are making the same mistake the Democrats did,” Powell said to the House Republicans. “Is this not the same thing Democrats were bashed and beat about just a few short years ago?”
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