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REDISTRICTING IS READY TO ROLL
General Assembly members are currently
holding public hearings around the state,
seeking input from voters on how they would
like to see their legislative and congressional
districts redrawn. On the surface, at least, it
looks like democracy in action. The average
citizen can attend any of these hearings and
speak their mind to the legislators who sit on
the House and Senate reapportionment com
mittees. These lawmakers, in turn, will sup
posedly give these public comments serious
consideration as they go about the business of
drawing new boundary lines.
"It will be an open process," said Sen.
Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg), chairman of
the Senate Reapportionment Committee. "It
will be a fair process."
Of course, nearly every word in
Seabaugh's statement is untrue.
Redistricting is not an open
process. Never has been, never
will be. When House and Senate
members gather in August for a
special session to handle redis
tricting, the boundary lines for
the legislative and congressional
districts will be drawn the same
way as always: behind closed doors
by the majority party's leadership.
Redistricting is not a fair process, either.
It is a political process, and there is no way it
can be fair to anybody except those who have
the power to decide where the lines will be
drawn. The party that controls the legislature
will do its best to ensure that the district
lines are redrawn to maximize their chances of
winning more seats and minimize the minority
party's prospects. Democrats tried to do that
10 years ago when they held the governor's
office and a legislative majority. Republicans
will try to do the same thing this year.
To complain about the politics of the
process will do you about as much good as
complaining about the fact that the sun rises
every morning. The redistricting maps that
emerge from the special session will be pain
ful for politicians in South Georgia, because
the population in that part of the state has
not grown nearly as fast as in North Georgia.
Population shifts will require the loss of two
seats from that area in the state Senate.
In the southwest quadrant, the only white
Democrat still left in the Senate is Sen. George
Hooks (D-Americus). Hooks' district is adja
cent to three other districts that are under
populated and predominantly black, which
means they will be protected by the federal
voting rights act. Hooks' district could be split
up to bring the three majority black districts
up to the required population level.
In southeast Georgia, the most vulner
able senator could be Sen. Jesse Stone
(R-Waynesboro), a first-term lawmaker. Even
though Stone is in the majority party, his
district may be the one that's sacri
ficed in that part of the state.
On the House side, population
losses require the elimination of
four or five South Georgia seats.
You could see districts squeezed
out in the slow-growth areas of
Augusta, Savannah, and Valdosta.
At the congressional level,
no districts will be lost. Because
of the state's population growth,
Georgia gains a U.S. House seat.
Where does the new congressional dis
trict go? One popular scenario involves the
creation of a "Lake Lanier district" centered
around Hall, Forsyth and Cherokee counties
in Atlanta's northern suburbs. That district
would be enticing to just about every politi
cal figure from those counties, a group that
includes Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Sen. Chip Rogers
(R-Woodstock), former senator Lee Hawkins,
Rep. James Mills (R-Gainesville), and Hall
County Commissioner Ashley Bell. And that's
just a partial list.
There's obviously a long way to go before
we see how all this shakes out, but you can be
sure of one thing: Georgia's redistricting pro
cess will be a display of raw political power.
Tom Crawford tcrawford@gareport.com
THIS MllklM W*KLI
by TOM TOMORROW .
HOW CAN THERE BE GLOBAL
WARMING—WHEN X HAD TO
SPEND SO MUCH TIME LAST WIN
TER SHOVELING SNOW?
NEVER MIND THAT THOSE RECORD
snowfalls were followed by
record RAINFALL—hot to men
tion RECORD FLOODS'.
AND NEVER MIND THAT WE'RE HAV
ING SUCH A FREAKISH AND DEV
ASTATING TORNADO SEASON!
OR THAT TEXAS IS EXPERIENCING
THE WORST DROUGHT IN RECENT
HISTORY!
*
6 FLAGPOLE.COM-JUNE 1,2011
'IWK T*M»Rf^W©20H ...www.thlsm odecnworld.com.,, twttter.com/tomtoi
