Voter Education
By: Clyde "Jocco" Baccus, President
The Learning Tree, Inc.
The 2011 session of the Georgia General Assembly is over but the sign ahead says special session coming soon. Starting next month there will be town hall meeting all over the state claiming they are getting voter input for the reapportionment process. Shame on them for thinking we believe their bull dropping.
The redistricting process evokes major questions about representative democracy, fairness, and political accountability. Redistricting in America is rotten. Across the country, for elections of every level, district lines are drawn in such a way that fundamental democratic values are subverted.
Locally, county commissions, school boards and city councils are creatures of the state. As such, the best evidence suggests that the same standards that apply to states also apply to local government. Without a firm understanding of what representation should mean, meaningful discussions of this important idea to redistricting will be limited.
The upcoming marketing campaign to convince Georgians the process will be fair and nonpartisan is only a small portion of the proposed $3.8 million dollar price tag.
Lobbyists in line to handle Ga. reapportionment?
January 7, 2011
Under the proposal, Troutman Sanders Strategies would replace the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute in redrawing reapportionment maps for the Georgia General Assembly and the state’s delegation to Congress.
The Legislature has contracted for previous reapportionments with the Carl Vinson Institute. Its duties, listed on its website, include:
Working with legislators to develop redistricting plans.
Using redistricting software to generate legal descriptions for reapportionment bills.
Producing maps for committee meetings and floor presentations.
Maintaining an archive of all redistricting plans.
(What will be the role of the Georgia Reapportionment Services Office?)
Hiring Troutman Sanders Strategies has not been announced but may already have been decided. “I think it is, but I haven’t got a final round up on it so I don’t know,” said House Reapportionment Chairman Roger Lane (R-Darien). Lane said he sees no conflict with involving lobbyists in the redistricting process. “They aren’t drawing the lines,” he said. “We draw the lines.” Hiring Troutman Sanders would give the Legislature a consultant that could focus on legislative and congressional districts exclusively without the distraction of similar work for local governments, Lane said. It might also save a little money, he said.
Redistricting duties removed from nonpartisan UGA institute
February 3, 2011
Never mind those other states that make redistricting a high-minded, nonpartisan process. Republicans have made their move to make this summer’s redrawing of political boundaries in Georgia a thoroughly GOP affair.
From Shannon McCaffrey with the Associated Press:
Partisan bickering erupted over redistricting on Thursday as Republican leaders created a new legislative office and tapped a prominent GOP lawyer to advise the effort.
Democrats complained they’d been left out of the decision-making and worried Republicans could be politicizing the process, in which new Census data is used to redraw congressional and legislative lines.
“That they did not include Democrats in this decision raises some serious questions about transparency and accountability,” House Democratic leader Stacey Abrams said.
Senate Democratic Leader Robert Brown said he repeatedly raised questions about the plan for redistricting but got vague responses from GOP leaders. He said Thursday’s news was “very much a surprise.”
“It’s obviously not nonpartisan,” Brown said. “I don’t know what this is. I’ve heard rumor after rumor about redistricting. We’re not a part of this process.”
Redistricting had been handled through a state contract with the University of Georgia’s nonpartisan Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
But according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston are creating a Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office. The office will be staffed by many of the same employees from the Carl Vinson Institute and will have the same budget.
Ann Lewis, counsel to the state Republican Party, and her law firm will provide legal guidance for the effort.
Lewis has handled several politically charged legal efforts in the state, including the defense of the state’s voter ID law and a brief then-Gov. Sonny Perdue filed with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the Voting Rights Act.
But a spokesman for Ralston said Lewis and her firm will bring vast experience to a complicated process.
“This firm is an expert in this highly specialized field and will be an asset to the General Assembly as we go through this process,” spokesman Marshall Guest said.
Guest said the effort was similar to the way other states handle redistricting. He said the process would remain nonpartisan.
Claims of politics are typical when redistricting happens as each party tries to gain the upper hand. In the last round of redistricting when Democrats in Georgia were in charge the maps faced a court challenge.
Georgia is expected to gain a congressional seat this year because of its population growth.
Legislators are expected to come back for a special session this summer to deal with redrawing the state’s maps.
Incidentally, that recent rules fight over whether Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle or Senate President pro tem Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, would have the power to name members of special committees? This redistricting panel is what the fisticuffs were mostly about.
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