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PAGE 10A
. FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday. March 21,2004
The Forsyth County News
Opinion
This is a page of opinions - ours, yours and others.
Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the
writers and artists and may not reflect our views.
Redrawn map
could change
legislative politics
If the redrawn legisla
tive maps prepared by the
federal courts remain in
place for this year's elec
tions. they will form the
basis for a tidal wave of
change under the gold
dome of the state Capitol,
the likes of which has not
been seen for many years.
Free from attempting to
satisfy the needs of any
political party, the federal
courts have drawn a map
that swaps common sense
for partisan concerns. The
result is a map with far
fewer elongated fingers
and tentacles of legislative
districts drawn to stretch
political power bases and
maximize partisan clout.
The redrawn map offers
a mixed bag for Forsyth
County.
On the plus side, it
guarantees one House
member from Forsyth and
makes it probable for a
second from the county to
be elected. It also reduces
from four to two the num
ber of Senate districts in
the county and provides
for a realistic opportunity
for a Forsyth Countian to
be elected to the state
Senate, which we haven't
had in recent years.
In both the House and
Senate the new map ties
Forsyth together with
Cherokee county, which
makes sense given their
common problems and
issues.
On the distinctly nega
tive side, the redrawn map
puts two existing state
House members who have
served the county well into
the same districts. Incum
bent Republicans Tom
Knox and Jack Murphy,
both Forsyth residents,
will have to run against
each other to win re-elec
tion to the House or will
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have to decide to explore
other options.
Knox and Murphy cer
tainly aren't alone in that
regard, however. Ignoring
partisanship and incum
bency, the newly drawn
map puts some 86 incum
bent members of the
General Assembly in the
same district as other
members, including some
of the most powerful peo
ple in the legislative
branch of state govern
ment.
Elections held based on
the new map would create
a sweeping tide of change
in Georgia's legislative
body, both by the loss of
many incumbents due to
sudden competition from
their colleagues, and by
virtue of the fact that the
latest redrawing creates 47
legislative districts which
would have no incumbent
at all.
While some members
of the Legislature are cry
ing the blues over the
redrawn map, the truth is
they have no one to blame
but themselves. Had the
state's General Assembly
not acted so irresponsibly
in carving up the political
landscape in 2001 to pre
serve clout for legislative
Democrats, the courts
never would have had to
take such drastic action.
There is still the slim
potential of an appeal of
the new map, but if it
remains as drawn without
change, it could well usher
in a new era in Georgia
politics. If so. perhaps
some fresh faces with new
ideas will see the logic of
finding a different way to
reapportion the state’s
political districts in the
future so that the debacle
of 2001 will not be
repeated.
in TUe cweap gears ” 1
H!i
Court’s legislative map isn’t perfect
Federal judges are lucky.
They aren't subject to recall or
election. And they don't have to
prove their intellectual skills.
Otherwise, the federal jurists
responsible for the just-released
Georgia redistricting maps
might be in serious trouble in
parts of Georgia.
Unless the court's House
and Senate district maps are
substantially altered, they are
likely to create political prob
lems for the entire state.
Elections may have to be
rescheduled. A passel of new
litigation is certain to emerge.
On the other hand, the
court’s maps, tracking the
state's population growth, estab
lished numerous open districts,
especially in North Georgia,
that ought to bring fresh talent
to the General Assembly.
Even so. the court's work
disturbs. The judges are fulfill
ing a constitutional assignment
of the General Assembly.
Why should you and I care
if the legislative bozos in the
Gold Dome have abdicated
their legal responsibility
once again and allowed the
federal courts to assume their
lawmaking roles and create
what many consider a mess?
For starters, the court (and
the Legislature) may have
wrought such confusion to the
redistricting process that the
issue could remain alive for the
remainder of the decade.
Georgia citizens are always the
losers in such inside-baseball
political games. Legislators will
continue to focus on their own
district lines instead of fixing
our failing schools, our overbur
dened transportation system and
our bankrupt budget. Additional
millions will be spent on legal
Letters
Caricatures of Bush
are obscene, hateful
I find it disturbing that Forsyth County
reprints Chip Bok cartoons that depict
President Bush as a “monkey.” The new
breed of “progressive" Democrat extrem
ists frequently use this derogatory term
when lambasting Bush, and it is quite
obvious that Chip Bok subscribes to their
philosophy.
Not surprisingly, reviewing Bok’s past
cartoons reveals that he only applies this
obscene caricature to Bush. These are
reminiscent of the caricature cartoons
used by Nazis depicting Jews as rats or
the U.S. depicting Japanese as buck
toothed mushrooms.
I thought civilization had evolved
beyond such horrible characterizations,
but I’m not surprised that these new
Democrats want to embrace it again. That
the Forsyth County News reprints these
cartoons makes us wonder whether its
staff agrees with their new policy of hate.
Peter Wilkens
Cumming
Editorial cartoon
was in poor taste
I consider myself an open minded,
intelligent individual, not prone to auto
matic reactions or not a person who is
easily manipulated. I realize that the
political "rendering” that was published
li I
Bill
Shipp
fees try ing to sort out this tin
gle-tangle.
A cursory glance at the judi
cial maps suggests the court did
little more than haul in a com
puter, pour into it columns of
numbers and then push the start
button. Out popped two brand
new legislative maps. Just as the
court had wanted, the comput
er's districts are mostly com
pact. The screwball, outlandish
shapes imposed during the
Barnes administration have dis
appeared.
Yet, in etching the less
ghastly configurations, the com
puter somehow failed to note
that the myriad numbers it
crunched were symbols for peo
ple.
A larger dash of human
brainpower added to the com
puter’s artificial intelligence
might have produced different
and fairer schemes.
As it now stands, the judicial
maps:
• Restore “retrogression."
the legal term for dilution of
black voting power, to a level
not seen since the days of Jim
Crow. Numerous senior black
legislators have been thrown
into districts that place their
political futures in serious jeop
ardy. The Justice Department
would have vetoed a similar
Legislature-made map before
the ink was dry. "This [judicial
map] is the kind of redistricting
that inspired passage of the fed
eral Voting Rights Act," says
one legal sage, who happens to
in the March 17 edition of the Forsyth
County News was not created in Forsyth
County.
However, the sheer, blatant, tasteless
ness, and offensiveness of this “render
ing" is simply staggering. To attribute
anything to the poor souls who had to die
in that horrible event is beyond reproach.
Not only is President Bush using 9/11 for
political purposes but also now. political
"cartoonists" are getting into the action. I
am not even sure what it is intended to
mean. That the people who died that day
would want us all to react some way? I
don’t know.
i 4rCjj i Ik Tin / \
vote Republican.
In Columbus. House Rules
Chairman Calvin Smyre, per
haps the most powerful black
legislator in Georgia history,
was thrown into a new legisla
tive district with another black
committee chairman. Carolyn
Hughley. and Tom Buck, white
chairman of the Appropriations
Committee. The court’s com
puter spewed out this amazing
three-way conflict even as it
produced two open-seat districts
on either side of the Smyre-
Hughley-Buck mishmash.
In metro Atlanta, several
well-established black lawmak
ers were tossed into districts
against white incumbents. In
another instance. Education
Committee Chairman Bob
Holmes must now face Rep.
Tyrone Brooks, chairman of the
Georgia Association of Black
Officials.
(We dwell on the problems
created for minority lawmakers
because their predicaments cre
ate the most direct path to more
prolonged and expensive litiga
tion.)
• Created equal headaches
for white lawmakers and the
GOP. Senate Republican
President Pro Tern Eric
Johnson, the guy who really
runs the Senate, was thrown
into an elongated district, pit
ting him against longtime
Democrat Rene Kemp of
Hinesville. The computer split
the town of Hinesville to create
this awkward arrangement
while leaving open districts all
around.
In fact, the court s computer
showed little regard for county
or even precinct borders. It shat
tered them left and right, but
was careful not to breach rail-
way lines and interstate high
ways.
To further complicate mat
ters, a high-profile Republican
legislative candidate has spread
the word around the Capitol that
he is kin to one of the federal
judges and knows what the
courts will do before anyone
else does. As this is written,
Democratic lawyers are ponder
ing how to use this bit of intelli
gence in a legal appeal.
If you enjoy playing the
blame game, these new maps
represent your Super Bowl.
Blame Gov. Roy Barnes' min
ions for insisting on such unrea
sonable districts that the court
stepped in.
Blame Gov. Sonny Perdue
for failing to exercise a mod
icum of leadership in trying to
help the Legislature redraw
more appropriate districts.
Blame both Republican and
Democratic legislative leaders
for refusing to compromise and
walking away from their consti
tutional roles.
P.S.: To be fair, the federal
courts are not equipped to draw
legislative districts at lightning
like speeds, which is what
occurred in this instance.
However, dear reader, don't be
misled by assertions that the
court's decision to discard some
seasoned incumbents willy
nilly is a good idea. Firing
elected officials is the preroga
tive of the electorate, not the
judiciary. Oddly, the judges
show that they understood this
maxim when they left intact our
equally weird congressional
districts.
Bill Shipp's column runs
each Sunday and Wednesday.
His e-mail address bshipp
@ hellsouth.net.
I do know that it was truly disturbing.
Some people actually saw what was
depicted in this “rendering" on the origi
nal news coverage of that awful event.
Why in the world would someone think
that this image should be used for any
kind of message? Absolutely disgusting.
Gregg W. Nielsen
Cumming
Editor's note: The cartoon in question
attributed political comments to people
jumping from the burning twin towers of
the World Trade Center..