Clarke's split may not be last

By Brandon Larrabee   |   Morris News Service   |   Story updated at 12:19 AM on Tuesday, January 24, 2006

ATLANTA - A controversial plan to craft new political boundaries in Clarke County could be the first of several attempts to shift the state's political maps, though Republican leaders vow that a wholesale redrawing of legislative districts is not in the offing.

House leaders gave representatives and senators the opportunity to propose redistricting plans for their areas - as long as all affected lawmakers sign off on them.

In a memo to representatives, the chairman of the House committee charged with overseeing the state's political lines said the Georgia General Assembly would not "redraw" the lines throughout the state.

"However, we do recognize that for a long time there has been a general understanding that if ALL members affected agree to change district lines or precincts, the House would permit such a change," wrote Reapportionment Committee Chairman Bobby Franklin, R-Marietta. "In keeping with that tradition, we will permit a similar practice of consensual redistricting during the 2006 session" as long as the proposals are in line with a list of rules Franklin laid out.

A similar memo was given to senators.

Franklin 's memo set out a deadline of the 10th legislative day. Under a schedule approved by lawmakers, that day would be next Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, said an informal deadline has already passed for members of the upper chamber to introduce their redistricting ideas. He said he was unaware of any changes beyond the Athens plan, which would split Clarke County among two Senate districts.

"No members are talking to me about it," Williams said of further changes.

House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island , said the plans that might be submitted were expected to be nothing more than an effort to clean up oddities in the court-drawn map.

"We're talking pure maintenance here," Keen said.

He pointed to the fact that St. Simons Island was split in an odd way between Keen and state Rep. Roger Lane , R-Darien.

"It causes a great deal of confusion down here the way it's drawn," Keen said.

One thing the new redistricting plans will not do, GOP leaders say, is change the political balance of the state.

"First of all, we have principles of redistricting," said House Speaker Glenn Richardson, R-Hiram. "And political data cannot be the sole reason for redistricting under our principles."

Richardson also said the rules laid out by Franklin would make it difficult to move the lines in a way that would benefit lawmakers politically. And he pointed to the scrutiny any redistricting proposal would get from two different legislative committees before it could be approved.

"I don't expect there to be a wholesale change," Richardson said.

But the maintenance proposal could get caught up in the firestorm over the Athens-area redistricting, which Democrats say is a raw political power play meant to safeguard a Republican seat.

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 012406