About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2011)
LOCKED ON TARGET Please forgive another midsummer flashback, but the current reapportionment spate returns me to the dawn of computer-driven redistricting. I was working at UGA's Institute of Government when it came time to reapportion Georgia's congressional and legislative districts. I fooled around with it for a while, moving lines on a map, subtracting and adding the resulting population shifts, becoming acutely aware how difficult it is to assemble such a large puzzle with an equitable j result and make it come out even. Across campus, political scientists Del Dunn and Keith Billingsley had both the knowledge of reapportionment and a new computer program to do it, but they didn't have the offi cial legislative numbers and maps, kind of like the expert who knows 15 different ways to make love but doesn't know any girls. My work took me frequently to Atlanta and the Capitol, and one day, due to some automotive malfunction, I had gone over on the bus and dropped by the office of Frank Edwards, legisla tive counsel to the Georgia General Assembly, an old friend. Frank was complaining that he was under the gun to come up with a reapportionment plan for the legislature to look at, but it was a political hot potato, because the House had to be reduced from 195 to 180 seats, and he didn't know where to turn to get the job done. He had the numbers and the maps but didn’t know whether he should turn them over to the uni versity. I assured him that Del and Keith were the real thing, and Frank handed me the roll of maps and printouts. When I mentioned that I hoped I could get them all back to Athens on the bus, Frank called the Georgia State Patrol, and soon I was speeding east in the front seat of a big Ford, marveling at how government works from the inside. Del and Keith took Frank's data and in short order, Georgia had moved into the information age with its redistricting. The main problem was drawing districts that didn't discriminate against black voters so much that the U.S. Department of Justice would veto them. That's still a consideration, but the main thrust of reapportionment today is disenfranchising the minority party. Having had that weapon used against them when the Democrats were in the ascendancy, Republicans now can't get enough of drawing lines j to make it ever more difficult for Democrats to get elected. They're in such command statewide, though, that in their push to clinch an absolute majority, they're going to have to be careful not to bump into each other while disenfranchis ing Democrats. Even in the minority. Democrats proved to be such a nuisance in the recently concluded election in our 113th District, that the state Republicans had to pour money and personnel into the fight to be sure that Democrat Dan Matthews was defeated. The main reapportionment job around here this time is for the Republicans to take the presently heavily Democratic District 115 and redraw it so that their new Soul Brother #1 Doug McKillip (recently our leading progressive Democrat) can get re-elected. This means moving out a bunch of Democrats and moving in a bunch of Republicans. But where do they park those Democrats? If they shunt them over to the adjacent District 113, that just increases the Democratic nuisance fac tor out there. Best thing they can do is move those Dems into Keith Heard's District 114, already heavily Democratic, but that means bumping other Democrats into another district, and the Justice Department will be keeping an eye on Heard's district. The Republicans are also trying to re-draw our local Athens- Clarke County commission districts to achieve more Republican representation in the government that they insisted on mak ing non-partisan. Go figure—and I assure you they have. One just knew that when in the last election areas like District 5 went so heavily for the more liberal of the commission and mayoral candidates, they marked themselves for retali ation. The Republicans want to erase the blue dot, and they have deployed the same computer software that they use to re-do the legislature. Republicans have targeted Athens like a Pakistani village in a Hellfire missile strike. Will there be any blowback? Pete McCommons editor@flagpole.com Republicans have targeted Athens like a Pakistani village in a Hellfire missile strike. THIS WEEK’S ISSUE: MEWS (is FEATURES City Dope Athens News and Views This week marks the one-year anniversary of the Trail Creek spill Celebrate in the bars! Athens Rising What’s Up in New Development A look at a couple of topics of current interest: Rutherford Hall and local legislative redistricting. EV11MT Grub Notes Bon Appetit Etienne Brasserie serves a good array of traditional French dishes The Reader 11 007 2.0 Carte Blanche ends up being about half of the best James Bond novel in a long time COVER DESIGN by Kelly Ruberto featuring a photo of the newly refur bished Georgia Theatre by Mike White MlUSfl© Threats & Promises 12 Music News and Gossip New album from Olivia Tremor Control 1 Jeff Mangum on tour! Record Reviews 13 Our Takes on the Latest Tracks New albums from Dex Romweber Duo. Madeline. Lovett and more . CITY DOPE 4 CAPITOL IMPACT 4 CITY PAGES 5 COBBLOVIATE 6 ATHENS RISING 7 COMMENT HAMBY 7 COMMENT: EMANUEL 8 GRUB NOTES 9 MOVIE DOPE 10 I THE READER 11 ! THREATS & PROMISES 12 KEN VANDERMARK DUO 12 RECORD REVIEWS 13 GEORGIA THEATRE 14 THE CALENDAR! 16 BULLETIN BOARP 20 ART AROUND TOWN 21 COMICS 22 REALITY CHECK .23 CLASSIFIEDS 24 EVERYDAY PEOPLE 26 K «IFIUSHIMlJMSsl ►► Check out our photo gallery from the Georgia Theatre’s opening night! ►► Like us on Facebook' Follow our Tweets! ►► We want to know about your next event: email calendar@flagpole.com ►► Fed up with your lame mate? Jyl Inov still wants to hear from YOU! Get a free Reality Check ►► Contact Us! Submit your original, non-published writing, story ideas, etc. to editor@flagpole.com ►► Write a Letter to the Editor. Pete wants to know your thoughts on local issues ££32 EDITOR & PUBLISHER Pete McCommons ADVERTISING DIRECTOR fc PUBLISHER Alicia Nickles PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Larry Tenner MANAGING EDITOR Christina Cotter ADVERTISING SALES Anita Aubrey. Melinda Edwards. Jessica Pritchard MUSIC EDITOR Michelle Gilzenrat CITY EOITOR Dave Marr CLASSIFIEDS. DISTRIBUTION l OFFICE MANAGER Nico Cashin AO DESIGNERS Kelly Ruberto. Cindy Jerrell CARTOONISTS Cameron Bogue, Missy Kulik. Jeremy Long. David Mack. Clint McEtroy. Colin Tom ADOPT ME Special Agent Cindy Jerrell CONTRIBUTORS John Barrett. Hillary Brown. James C Cobb. Tom Crawford. Alex Dimitropoulos, Ben Emanuel. David Fitzgerald. Jennifer Gibson. John Granotsky. Mike Hamby. Chris Hassiotis, John Huie. Maria Kelly, Gordon Lamb. Bao Le-Huu. Ryan Martin, John G Nettles. Emily Patrick. Jett Tobias. Brian Veysey. Drew Wheeler. Kevan Williams. Marshall Yarbrough CIRCULATION Charles Greenleaf Nash Hogan. Jesse Mangum Matt Shirley WEB OESIGNER Kelly Ruberto ADVERTISING & EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Jessica Smith ADVERTISING INTERNS Anne Catherine Harris. Ashley Laramore MUSIC INTERNS Chris Miller. Brian Walter CONTACT US: STREET ADDRESS: 112 Foundry St., Athens, GA 30601 MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603 EDITORIAL: (706) 549-9523 ADVERTISING: (706) 549-0301 FAX: (706) 548-8981 ADVERTISING: ads@flagpole.com CALENDAR: calendar@flagpole.com COMICS: comics@flagpole.com EDITORIAL: editor@flagpole.com LETTERS: letters@flagpole.com MUSIC: music@flagpole.com NEWS: news@flagpole.com WEB SITE: web@flagpole.com VOLUME 25 ISSUE NUMBER 29 Flagpole, Inc. publishes Flagpole Magazine weekly and distributes 17,000 copies tree at over 275 locations around Athens. Georgia Subscriptions cost $55 a year. S35 tor six months © 2011 Flagpole, Inc All rights reserved CIRCULATION | VERIFICATION | COUNCIL a 0 0 A\vxu*“-on £>♦ Altrmittit 41** JULY 27, 2011-FLAGPOLE.COM 3
