SOS! GA GOP trying to split Athens-Clarke Co. into 2 GOP senate districts

This is dirty partisan politics at its very worst. They already hold the majority in both houses and have the governorship, but that isn't good enough.

Even worse, the ultra-RW Athens Area Chamber of Commerce (They hate our Democratic Mayor and all of the Democrats, poor black and hispanics, academics and bohemians here in Athens and anyone who stands in the way of the almighty dollar and their wallets) has a hand in this debacle: they want TWO GOP senators instead of one Democratic senator.

The GA GOP realized they couldn't defeat Jane Kidd, My state rep and the daughter of former Democratic GA Gov. Ernest Vandiver, in the 46th district senate race, so they are going to split my blue county (Georgia's smallest county and one of only two consolidated city-county governments) into two GOP senate districts and throw the election to Brian Kemp's brother-in-law (who Kidd beat in the 2002 state rep. race.)
Kemp (R-Athens), my current state senator is stepping down from the seante to run against Tommy Irvin for Ag Commissioner. I knew something was up when he decided to leave the seante after only one term.

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:
:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

PLEASE HELP US! State Reps. Keith Heard (D-Athens) and Jane Kidd (D-Athens) will host a Town Hall meeting Wednesday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Athens Regional Library.
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Information from Blog for Democracy (Thanks for the link Ruby!)

January 13, 2006

In other General Assembly news, yesterday the State Senate voted to split Clarke County into two Senatorial Districts. Why? Because Republicans want to make it harder for a Democrat to win Senate District 46, and have essentially tossed it in the lap of the brother-in-law of Republican Senator Brian Kemp.

"We all know what's happening here," Kidd said across the capitol in the House. She called the bill "the most hypocritical of political moves" before being cut off by House Speaker Glenn Richardson, a Republican."

Here's the story: In Senate, GOP seeks Athens split

And Chris has the maps: GA Senate district 46 redistricting images

http://www.blogfordemocracy.org/archives/2006/01/snip.html
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MY EMAIL FROM MY DEMOCRATIC STATE REP., JANE KIDD:

From : <jbvkidd@aol.com>
Reply-To : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent : Wednesday, January 11, 2006 1:41 AM
To : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject : What Jane really thinks! - Tom Crawford piece

Dear Friends,

Please pass along to everyone you know who cares about justice and fairness. This is an outrage! It's not about me (Well, they WERE afraid I would win...) but about 3 senators getting together and deciding they didn't want a senator of the opposite party elected in their area.

We're talking about a consolidated government...the smallest county in the state and a county that votes majority Democratic. To split it up and design districts where there will likely be 2 Republican senators representing that county is not "representative government" it's dirty, partisan politics designed to disenfranchise the majority voting population.

If we raise a stink and fight back...the public and media outcry might keep the bill and others like it coming in the Senate and House, from moving forward. Governor Perdue doesn't want this issue to surface and neither do many Republican candidates.

Write the paper, call your friends, cause an uproar. The Dems are working on strategies up here. We need outrage in Athens!

Jane

Senate Republicans redraw three districts
by Tom Crawford on 1/9/2006
Senate Republicans are trying to redraw the boundaries of three northeast Georgia Senate districts, a move that could get rid of Democratic opposition in one of the Senate races later this year.
The redistricting involves Senate seats now held by Republicans: Sen. Brian Kemp of Athens in the 46th, Sen. Ralph Hudgens of Comer in the 47th, and Sen. Casey Cagle of Gainesville in the 49th.
The Senate Reapportionment Committee voted Monday to adopt a new plan that would modify the boundaries of the three districts. The major change would take Clarke County, which is now wholly contained within the 46th District, and split it between Districts 46 and 47.
That change would make Kemp's District 46, which is now a competitive district up for grabs between Democrats and Republicans, a more Republican-leaning district in terms of voter performance in recent elections.
Kemp is stepping down from the Senate this year to run for agriculture commissioner and Rep. Jane Kidd (D-Athens) had already announced she would run for the seat. Republican attorney Bill Cowsert, who is Kemp's brother-in-law, has also said he'll run in the 46th district.
Redrawing the district to make it more Republican, however, could persuade Kidd to get out of the Senate race and run again for her House seat instead. "I'll hold that option open," she said after learning of the committee action.
Kidd called the attempt to redraw the districts "gerrymandering" and noted that Sonny Perdue in the 2002 race for governor criticized the same kind of redistricting strategy when it was used by Democrats.
"This is exactly what Perdue railed against Roy Barnes about, this kind of gerrymandering," Kidd said. "I consider it a compliment. They know they can't beat me without changing the lines."
"It seems like Brian Kemp, as a goodbye to his Senate seat, is in cahoots with Ralph Hudgens," Kidd added. "I don't think Clarke County will be happy with this. They're being jerked around by their own senator."
Hudgens, who introduced the bill to redraw the three districts, agreed that the change in boundaries would make the 46th district "more attractive to Republicans." At the same time, he said the change will make his own 47th district "less attractive to Republican candidates."
The major goal of his proposal, Hudgens said, was to place Madison County, which is now split between two districts, entirely within the confines of the 47th District.
Hudgens said the Madison County Commission requested that county's placement in a single Senate district back in 2001. The Athens Area Chamber of Commerce had also requested more representation at the legislature, which it would get with two state senators rather than one, he added.
"We'd like to put small counties back together," Hudgens told the Reapportionment Committee. He said that Kemp and Cagle had also signed off on the redistricting proposal.
In addition to splitting Clarke County, the Hudgens bill moves Oglethorpe County from District 46 into District 47 and moves the northern half of Walton County from District 47 into District 46. A sliver of Madison County that is now part of District 46 (and also encompasses a house that Hudgens owns and would move back into) would be shifted to District 47. There would be some minor swapping of precincts between District 47 and District 49.
The redistricting bill was adopted by a straight party-line vote, with eight white Republicans on the committee outvoting four black Democrats.
"I understand what you're trying to do here, but it seems to me this is the redistricting that will never end," said Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta).
© 2006 by Capitolimpact.com

By Blake Aued | blake.aued@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 12:08 AM on Friday, January 13, 2006

Athens-Clarke officials and prominent Democrats say they never were consulted about a Madison County Republican's proposal to split Clarke County into two Republican-leaning state Senate districts.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Ralph Hudgens, R-Comer, would place the eastern half of Republican Brian Kemp's 46th Senate District in the 47th Senate District that Hudgens represents.

<snip>

Local Democrats called it a partisan proposal that's aimed to ensure that the 46th district stays in Republican hands and increase the political clout of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, charges that Hudgens and chamber President Larry McKinney deny.

"In my opinion, it was a political move without a purpose, except to hurt Jane Kidd," a Democrat who is running for Kemp's Senate seat, said Louise McBee, a former Democratic state representative from Athens.

more...
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011306/news_20060113056.shtml
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This is an apalling power grab and an attempt to dilute minority voting rights in the smallest county east of the Mississippi River and a county with a majority of Democratic voters.
:grr:

Rep. Jane Kidd, D-Athens, speaks Thursday from the well on the floor of the House at the Capitol in Atlanta.
Associated Press Photo

By Doug Gross | Associated Press | Story updated at 12:09 AM on Friday, January 13, 2006

ATLANTA - Republicans in the state Senate on Thursday pushed through a change to their chamber's political map that would divide Athens - a Democratic stronghold - into two districts.

The plan's sponsor called it an effort to honor a 5-year-old request from commissioners in rural Madison County. But Democrats dubbed it an election-year ploy designed to hurt the chances of a House Democrat who is seeking the seat and help the brother-in-law of a Republican senator.

"This is a battle I've been fighting since 2001," said state Sen. Ralph Hudgens, R-Comer, the plan's sponsor, who showed senators a 2001 letter from Madison County commissioners asking that their county remain whole in the 47th Senate District that Hudgens represents.

But Democrats argued the plan appears aimed at hurting the odds of state Rep. Jane Kidd, D-Athens, who has announced plans to run this year for the 46th Senate District seat held by Republican Brian Kemp, who is vacating the seat to run for state agriculture commissioner.

more...
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011306/news_20060113053.shtml
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Sen. Ralph Hudgens is the worst kind of fundamentalist wingnut. :scared:

Hypocritical GOP Engages in Naked Power Grab
http://www.georgiaparty.com/newsroom/pressRelease.asp?pressID=149
Perdue, Johnson take hypocrisy to new level

(Atlanta) Today, Georgia Republicans engaged in a brazen political power grab to protect a State Senate seat they must believe they would otherwise be certain to lose this year. Republicans are drawing State Rep. Jane Kidd out of a district that she is poised to win.

“We all know what’s happening here,” said Rep. Kidd as reported by Capitol Impact. “This is the kind of political gerrymandering that Gov. Perdue railed about when it was done by another administration. Friends, these folks are in need of a civics lesson.”

“Gov. Sonny Perdue and State Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson are taking hypocrisy to a new level by leading such a blatant power grab,” said Emil Runge, spokesman of the Democratic Party of Georgia.


As a reminder, below is a list of quotes for Gov. Perdue and Sen. Johnson made during Georgia’s 2001 redistricting.

“’Today, the people of Georgia lost’ said Perdue. ‘Their interests were sacrificed on an altar of partisan preservation and power. And it is a sad day.’” (Macon Telegraph, 8/11/01)

“Perdue, R-Bonaire, took the Senate well to deliver a lengthy, impassioned denunciation of the Senate's redistricting process. Styling his remarks in the form of a prosecutor's argument -- and making literary allusions that ranged from Shakespeare to Thomas Paine -- he accused his Democratic colleagues of political murder and rape. ‘The spirit and soul of this body has been poisoned by a meanness that is Brutus-like,’ he said. ‘Not in word, as we smile our pleasantries at one another. All the while we thrust the dagger in the rib cage and say, 'I'm sorry.'’ Although the Senate was preparing Friday to vote on a congressional map, Perdue focused on the Senate district map, approved last month, which throws 10 incumbent Republican senators into districts where they would face each other or a strong Democrat for re-election. ‘On Aug. 17 you sat in this body and participated in an event I'm going to label a crime against Georgia and a crime against your colleagues,’ he said.” (Perdue in Macon Telegraph, 9/8/01)

“’The spirit and soul of this body has been poisoned by a meanness that is Brutus-like,’ said Sen. Sonny Perdue, R-Bonaire. ‘This is not just partisan and political. It's mean and hateful.’” (Chattanooga Times/Chattanooga Free Press, 9/8/01)

“’I think in the light of last week's tragedy, the only agenda here in the statehouse of Georgia was Democratic performance. I think it's tragic, I think it's disgusting and I think the people of Georgia believe and feel that way,’ Perdue said.” (Macon Telegraph, 9/23/01)

“'Georgians will not be used as political pawns by arrogant politicians,' said Senate Republican Leader Eric Johnson of Savannah.”

“In the Senate plan, said, ‘Georgia has been sliced and diced like a co-ed in a 'Halloween' movie.’ With the new congressional map, he said, ‘These districts crawl all over Georgia like kudzu.’”

I'm in the 46th, and let him know that I consider this a slap in the face of me as an Athenian. Consider me there for the Wednesday meeting.

I'll see you tomorrow night at the townhall meeting! I am pissed off!
I know Brian Kemp and I've never trusted him either as a developer or as a politician. I should've bought a DU button to wear so that I can recognize my fellow DUers in Public. Mental note: buy DU button. :)

BTW, DU meetup: Saturday, February 25th, 7pm, at the Graveyard in East Atlanta

See the thread in the Georgia Forum for more info on our meetup! Mike and Kathy Malloy and baby Molly will be there! ALso, two of our original 2001 DUers will be there too: Catwoman and Ulysses!
Let your other GA DU friends know!

Hope to see you there! CB