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January 10, 2006
Things that make you go hmmmm...
Republicans have wasted little time in donning the hat of hypocrisy when it comes to redistricting. Although they enjoy a substantial lead in both chambers, any threat to their power is considered too serious of a problem for the ballot box -- it must be addressed by redistricting!
Case in point: With Sen. Brian Kemp (R - Athens) bowing out of that body to run for statewide office, Republican legislators (and Kemp's brother-in-law, the potential Republican candidate) are looking at a swing district and thinking that Democratic state Rep. Jane Kidd of Athens has a good shot at winning it.
So, what do they propose: A shift of the district's boundaries. Splitting up Athens for the first time in God Knows When in the state Senate, putting half of Athens with Oconee and a portion of Walton county and putting the other half with a district that would include Oglethorpe, Elbert, Madison, Jackson and Barrow counties.
Brian Kemp gave the usual gerrymander's cop out, that a split community gets more representation and state dollars (not true). Ralph Hudgens went farther. According to the Athens Banner Herald he said: "Monroe (in Walton County) has a lot more in common with Athens than anything else".
Now let's think about this for a second. Athens/Clarke County (they are one and the same) is currently whole. Hudgens proposes splitting it in half and putting half of the city/county with Walton County because they have a lot more in common with Athens than anything else. Presumably Hudgens means that the portion of Athens that will remain in SD 46 has more in common with Walton county than it does with the REST OF ATHENS they are taking out.
That's like cutting off my right arm because a transplant would make a better match. I doubt Perdue, Richardson and Johnson will go along with this blatant partisan redistricting. If so, we'll be able to confirm that years of blathering on their part about keeping communities whole was just that -- blathering.
Posted by Chris at January 10, 2006 05:24 PM
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