DeKalb could lose two State Reps.

That’s right folks. DeKalb, since it has grown slower than its exurban counterparts to the north will more than likely lose two of its state representatives to some far flung semi-rural backwater in the north Georgia mountains. That from the lips of district 90 representative Howard Mosby who was in attendance at the redistricting meeting held by Kathie Gannon in Gresham Park this week. Though he did not call it a rural backwater, Mosby’s speculation sort of mirrors what I posted last week about congressional redistricting in DeKalb. Power in the state house and Congress is leapfrogging the southern parts of the metro in favor of the far northern counties. From a political standpoint it means a smaller voice in the legislature. From an economic standpoint, it could mean fewer dollars for things like roads and transit. No details came forward as to which representatives would lose their seat, but Mosby did say that during redistricting, recently voted in members have an advantage. But that’s not all. Our school districts will go from nine to seven thanks to recently passed legislation. That means two members could be drawn out or forced to run against another incumbent. Again those recently elected have an advantage over those who have not faced a re-election since 2010. Those of you who wanted Cunningham or Copelin-Woods gone may have to wait for another election cycle. And finally, our esteemed board of commissioners will have their districts redrawn. District 5, Lee Mays dominion, is the largest district by size and population, so it will have to be cut down to help districts three and four become more balanced in terms of population. No one will be drawn out of the commission districts, though several are up for re-election.

As I was writing the above, the AJC posted what could be the first version of new congressional districts in Georgia. From what I can tell, DeKalb county will have three reps instead of four. It looks like David Scott in the 13th had the few thousand people in extreme South DeKalb taken away and put into John Lewis’ 5th district. As I was told by a politician recently, the 4th did slide further east taking in all of Rockdale, and some of Newton. From this map I cannot tell for sure if the 6th dipped further down into DeKalb, but it does look as though most of north DeKalb and North Atlanta are now in the 6th district. If this map holds, it looks like all three Democrats in Atlanta Metro are safe. I do wonder though if stretching the 4th all the way to Newton wouldn’t make the 4th a little more conservative, and give Hank Johnson a challenge for his seat. Of the three metro area Democrats, Hanks seat may be the least safe. Here is a copy of the map.

Redistricting coming to DeKalb

I chatted with a local politician recently, and we covered a mryiad of topics including redistricting that will add a 14th congressional seat for Georgia. The seat is going to go to an exurban county on the outer fringes of the northern metro was his evaluation. With that additional seat comes a redrawing of all congressional district lines in georgia. Since Repiublicans control al three branches of Goverment in Georgia, it is a foregone conclusion that the seat will be drawn in such a fashion that a Republican will win the seat with ease. As for the other districts, compromise and legal precedent will shape how those districts are drawn. From what I am told, the fourth district represented by Hank Johnson will be extended futher east taking in the rest of Rockdale county and parts of Newton county.  If the 4th is moved further east, then you may see the fifth moving further east as well. I can remember when the 5th was generally the city of Atlanta. it has since expanded to areas of DeKalb that border the city. In the new alignment, the 5th would suck up what is much of DeKalb inside the perimeter and and South of interstate 85 on the northside. The 5th would become an inside the perimeter district with a few exceptions. I was also told that the fith could extend down into Clayton County to take in parts of riverdale wich is now part of the 13th district represented by David Scott. If that happens, then the 13th would be cut off from the rest of the district in the western part of the metro. That could mean that David Scotts district could be the sacrificial lamb in the redistricting talks. The sixth district in north DeKalb could extend further south down to I-85 inside of 285. If all of this holds true, then DeKalb will continue to be represented by four different congressmen, more than any jurisdiction in the state. Want more info on redistricting, go here to see meeting schedules and times

Issues South DeKalb should keep an eye on.

Congressional District Lines

the redrawing of congressional lines and legislature lines will take center stage this summer. In August, a special session will begin the process of redrawing district lines to accommodate this states increase in population. As it stands the legislature will have 14 districts to draw as oppose to 13. Since republicans control all three branches of state government, you can expect Democrats to fare poorly during this once a decade redrawing. I for one hope the legislature looks at how DeKalb is carved up. DeKalb, with a population around 750 thousand has 4 congressional districts. That’s more than Fulton or Gwinnett. The legislature should bring all of DeKalb that is not in the 6th district or in the city of Atlanta back into the fourth. See a possible district breakdown here. DeKalb is basically an urban county with issues that more align with the central city than with more rural areas like Rockdale, or Henry, or South Fulton county. It is going to be interesting to see how the legislature deals with DeKalb. Aside from the congressional redrawing,  what could have a greater impact on DeKalb is the representation in the statehouse. As the AJC has reported on several occasions, DeKalb, along with Fulton has not kept pace in terms of growth with its exurban counterparts. In the state legislature DeKalb could lose a seat or two, weakening its delegation in the statehouse. That weakening would be a strengthening for a county like Forsyth wich has only a fraction of the population of DeKalb. If DeKalb does lose a seat or two, we all can guess where those seats will come from. If you want more info on the redrawing, check out this Google search

Transportation

In the fall people all across the Metro area will vote whether or not to tax themselves an additional penny to fund transportation infrastructure throughout the region. By late August we should know exactly wich projects voters will be asked to fund. Many projects will affect South DeKalb. Things like mass transit, road improvements and interchange improvements are all on the list for DeKalb. I have stated in a prior post that I am not against a self-imposed tax for better transportation service throughout the metro. What I fear is that DeKalb residents will pay more and receive less. Rail service has been talked about in South DeKalb for decades, but none has materialized. The state DOT has already nixed the idea of rail service to Conyers, and rightfully so. The density of the population that far out just doesn’t warrant it just yet. But some sort of rail service to South DeKalb is long overdue. Two options benefitting South DeKalb could be placed on the final list for voters to approve. One  is rail transit from downtown to Candler Road and the other is  an extension of the Blue Line to Wesley Chapel. The cynic in me says neither will get the needed support from the roundtable that is tasked with providing the final list. If the final list comes out, and all we get in DeKalb are interchange improvements and other areas get more options, I would be inclined to say no to a new tax. But I will keep an open mind about the whole thing.

Policing

A friend of mine had his home broken into recently. The police responded and we started talking about police coverage where he lives. What he told me was astonishing. He said on any given night there are four cars patrolling an area from Moreland Avenue to Wesley Chapel/Flakes Mill Rd south of I-20. Yea that’s a huge area. I was shocked that an area that is so huge would have only four cars. My first instinct was to think the officer was exaggerating, but when a second car showed up, he said the same thing without knowing what we and the previous officer had spoken about. After a little bit of searching, I found this map of the South Precinct. If these divisions represent individual beats within the precinct, then I can see how its possible for only four cars to patrol the area. But even worse is that these same areas are becoming crime-ridden but a surge in police coverage has not kept pace.  It seems to me that the police are in a respond to incidents stage than proactively policing areas that are vulnerable to criminal activity.

Mid-term elections: My final analysis

Well the voters spoke and what they said spoke volumes here locally especially at the school board level. I have not seen turnout numbers yet, but it seems there were better than expected turnouts especially for South DeKalb.

The Republican sacrificial lamb went down in flames against Hank Johnson. I will admit, I was not surprised by the Johnson victory. After all this is an overwhelmingly democratic district. What was surprising was that Liz Carter did not get a higher percentage of votes. Historically, Republicans have gotten about a third of the vote. Carter got only 25 percent. She lost all three counties, but kept it close in Rockdale and Gwinnett. In GWX she won 43 percent and I Rockdale she won 47 percent. It was DeKalb that cost her big time. DeKalb was won by Johnson 79 percent to 20 percent. That is a pure rejection by DeKalb voters of the Republican candidate. I cannot wait to see actual precinct numbers. Carter showed her face at events in South DeKalb more than Johnson, so I would like to see how bad she actually did in southern precincts. These numbers confirm to me that no Republican no matter how moderate can win in the fourth short of redistricting which is coming soon.

Democrat David Scott cruised into another term taking out Republican challenger Mike Crane by more than 2 to 1. Crane lost in every county in the district. The only county where it was close was Douglas, he was  just over 1000 votes behind. The rest were a wash. The Secretary of State’s office is reporting that as of lunchtime Wednesday, only two-thirds of Cobbs vote had been recorded, but I doubt there are enough out there to change the outcome.

The two races above and the 5^th district with John Lewis tells me that Democrats have a stranglehold on certain districts, and they can rest assured that those districts will deliver to the Democrats quite reliably. Now let’s see if the Democrats return the favor. To see just how the Democrats have DeKalb in their pocket, consider this; of the major statewide races (Gov., Lt. Gov., SOS, AG, Insurance and Agriculture Commissioner, Labor Commissioner and State School Super.), every Democrat running for those offices got 70 plus percent of the vote.

 

I did not cover the Governor’s race to tough because after the primary it was obvious which party was going to be in the state capitol. What I do want to touch on is redistricting. The Republicans hold all the key statewide positions that influence how districts will be drawn. With Georgia’s population growth in the last decade we are going to get at least one additional House representative and possibly a second. If that’s the case, districts will have to be redrawn. Democrats are going to have a tough time getting districts drawn anywhere near what they want to see. And although the Obama Justice Department has to approve any possible redraw, it is going to be very interesting to see where we all fall in the new order. DeKalb which covers parts of four districts, could see drastic changes in the next year or so. Watch the 13^th. People do not like how it meanders around the perimeter from South DeKalb To southern Cobb County. Also watch the 4^th. One representative is rumored to want to see the sixth drop further down from its present borders.

Now to the school board. When I first saw initial results on election night around 10 pm I was livid. All of the challengers were behind and behind big. Within a couple of hours the numbers had started to settle and things did not look too bad. As it stands now, no incumbent was defeated outright. District 1 and 7 are going to a runoff. District 3, 5, and 9 are wins for the incumbent. If all things hold as they are, only two seats stand a chance at changing. To me that is not enough. It says overall the citizens are satisfied with the direction of the school board. Donna Edler came close to unseating Zepora Roberts, but fell short. In district 1 Nancy Jester finished at the top but could not clear the 50 plus 1 hurdle. Two things about the run-off in both districts. In both, the incumbent actually received less votes. In District 1 if you combine jesters totals with that of Merope Gillis, the voters actually wanted Jim Redovian out. The voters who wanted Redovian out just split on who they wanted. The same was evident in the 7^th. Sixty-one percent of votes cast were against Zepora Roberts. If these trends hold those two seats are gains for those who think it is time for a change. The second observation is will enough voters remain discontent and return to the polls to deliver the message they sent on Tuesday. After all people wanted to see something change in those two districts. If bad news continues to flow out about DeKalb schools then the challengers can win. If the fight is gone and people do not show, the incumbents can get more of their people to the polls and that means sure defeat in the run-off for Jester and Edler.

A couple of other things on the board. Jay Cunningham received 64 percent of the vote in district 5. A man with a felony theft conviction and possible conflicts of interest should have had a rougher time than he did. What is really depressing is that there was one a possibly two candidates that were clearly qualified to do the job. In the past SACS has said that accreditation was not on the line in DeKalb. The also stated they wanted to see how the lections turn out. If none of the challengers’ win in run-offs, will this affect SACS view of the system.

 

DeKalb Results here: http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/Voter/pdf/GEResult11102010.pdf

 

A few thoughts if you please

A few thoughts on politics, government and community 

The 2010 midterm elections are approaching fast, and the there are so many candidates and offices up for election that it’s easy to get overwhelmed.  Endorsements are rolling in from groups and individuals whose motives are unknown at best. There are a lot of offices up for grabs for South DeKalb voters, so here is my rundown on some of them.

Let’s talk board of education first. EduKALB has endorsed its slate of candidates for the board of education. As we all know, the board has been the subject of some bad press lately, and the thought of having the accreditation of the county schools revoked has put the spotlight on the board members themselves. EduKALB, a reform-minded group , I think,  has endorsed Dr. Kirk Nooks in the 5th and Corey Wilson in the 3rd district. They also gave the nod to Donna Edler in the 7th district. These seem like reasonable endorsements to me. Having talked to two of the three, I came away with a good feel for both Wilson and Nooks. I have heard Ms. Edler on several occasions, and I think she will be an upgrade in the 7th. What surprised me about EduKALB was the lack of endorsement for Nancy Jester in the 1st district. She seems to be a well grounded individual that has a good command of what is going on in the system and wants to see a change in the way business is done. Maybe Jim Redovian is not like the other incumbents in that he has no dirt that is sticking to him like several of the other candidates. In any case, Voting for Jester would not hurt the 1st district in my humble opinion.

The election for the 4th district congressional seat is probably safe for Hank J., but I wonder how much of a dent Liz Carter will make. She has been at Hank from day one. Even during the primary, Hank was her primary target. She and her supporters make no bones about their lack of confidence in the present representation, but lets be real here, this is a pro Democrat district, and unless there has been some radical change in the last few minutes, it will remain just that. No Republican has gotten more than a third of the vote in this district since it was redrawn back in the mid-nineties, but Carter has been very vocal and has a solid group of hard core supporters that will probably go to the polls. Hank on the other hand has played it quiet, not engaging in debates, and basically ignoring Carter’s call for at least one debate. I do have to wonder why Hank won’t debate Carter; is it fear of a misstep that could be fatal? I doubt that even a few mistakes by Johnson would hurt him in the 4th. What I want to see is if Carter can get between 40-45 percent of the vote. If she does that would be news all its own and could signal a changing of the guard in DeKalb. 

I haven’t spent much time on the 13th district race, but I have to say this; I hope David Scott loses. Why, you ask? Well to start he doesn’t even live in the district. He would rather fight community gardens in Inman Park than live and play around the people he is supposed to represent. If you need more reasons, just Google him and then tell me you still support the guy.

The folks over at Crossroads News have been on point as of late. A series of articles taking the county to task about it’s roadside maintenance has reaped some benefits. In the past few weeks, I have seen not only county workers, but volunteers and community service folks cleaning up major thoroughfares in South DeKalb. One weekend I saw so many orange bags waiting to be picked up I had to wonder where all the trash came from. Now it is up to citizens to do their part. Trash strewn streets and waist high grass is an eyesore and shows a lack of pride in ones own backyard.

Thanks go to a DeKalb police officer who responded to my neighbors alarm. I came home one day and my neighbors alarm was going off I knew she was out of the country and had a home sitter while she was gone. I walked around the house and saw nothing out of place. I called her alarm company since I did not have the house sitters info, and advised them. They told me they saw the alarm, but it was a motion and not a window or door but would call police anyway. When the police arrived about 15 minutes later, the officer checked things out and alerted the alarm company who killed the alarm. The officer was polite and actually thanked me for alerting the alarm company. I wish I had gotten his name because all the crap that he police put up with, he took the time to be polite and friendly.

Lats but not least. The county needs to work on it’s documents depot. That is where average folk like you and me can go to see many of the documents that help us keep track of our elected officials. My beef with the DocDepot is that minutes from BOC meetings are never up to date. In fact if you go there right now, you will not see any minutes from BOC meetings since early July. I know that the minutes have to be approved by the CEO and there are some other additional hoops before they can be published, but there has to be a faster way. You will find agendas and summaries but no minutes. The minutes offer details that summaries and agendas do not. You would think that meeting minutes from August would be posted by now. In this day and age, information moves at the speed of light, but in government, it still moves at a snails pace.

13th district results pt. 1

David Scott is sailing along in the 13th. He is winning both henry and douglas counties. It is still early, but he may be on his way to the general election.

His opponent is less clear. Mike Crane leads Deb Honeycutt by 7 percentage points. This is with 8 percent reporting

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Honeycutt may be in trouble, but it is still early. David Scott is cruisin

Republican Candidates		Votes	% of Votes
	Mike Crane		313	34.3%
	Deborah Honeycutt		251	27.5%
	“Chip” Flanegan		158	17.3%
	Hank R Dudek		95	10.4%
	Dave Orr		63	6.9%
	Rupert G. Parchment		33	3.6%
	Totals		913

	Democratic Candidates		Votes	% of Votes
	David Scott		391	77.1%
	Mike Murphy		86	17.0%
	Michael Frisbee		30	5.9%
	Totals		507

Who else will South DeKalb choose

I am taking a time out from the more interesting 4^th district race to look at  other races that affect us here in South DeKalb.

Here is a rundown of the Governor’s race from the Southern Political Report. I personally have not made up my mind in this one. Barnes is making in-roads with me with his commercials that allude to his experience as a former Governor.  To be honest, he is perhaps the best person for this job. I think Thurbert Baker could do the job well, I just don’t see myself voting for him. The race on the Republican side is more interesting. Karen Handel will not get my vote; there is something about her style that I have not liked since she was commission chair in Fulton County. She seems more like an opportunist, playing on voter fears than on actually solving problems. On her website she says she balanced the Fulton budget, with no mention about the commissioners who also helped balance that budget. She just rubs me the wrong way.  As for her opponents, Oxendine and Deal, they seem to have some ethics issues that could make governing difficult at best. Here and here are two Peach Pundit stories about “Ox” that questions his ethics. Seems to me that he can do some questionable things that makes one wonder about his decision making skills.  Nathan Deal, on the other hand, was found to have committed ethics violations while in the U.S. House. Seems he made some questionable moves as it relates to his business. Here is a quick summary from Huffington Post. What he was found guilty of is probably par for the course in the world of politics. The question is will it hurt his run for Governor? In my opinion, it probably won’t hurt him. And finally there is Eric Johnson, lifelong Republican and basically unknown to me until I saw some video of him. I can’t remember if it was TV or internet, but the one thing that stuck in my skull was the statement that he believed in the constitution that our Founding Fathers believed in or something along those lines. For me that is a deal breaker no matter what party you are affiliated with or how charming or successful you may be.

For the few thousand South DeKalb residents in the 13^th congressional district, do not vote for David Scott. There is enough paper work about this guy’s ethics, it is surreal. Just Google him. Here, I did it for you. He is not what you want in a U.S. Rep. He is just clean enough to not be caught up in anything serious or do jail time, but if you keep sending him to Washington it just may happen. CREW rated him as one of the most corrupt members of Congress in 2007. If you do enough homework, you will not vote for this guy.  Let me move on to Rupert Parchment. I had seen his signs pop up around the extreme southern portion of the county in recent weeks. I had no Idea who this dude was until I watched a debate among the Republicans running for office. Do not vote for this guy. He lives in Midtown far away from the district. Although it may be legal, which he points out in the televised debate, it is misleading. Do you not like the housing stock in the 13^th? Do you not like the environment in the 13^th? Whatever his reason,  Why not run against John Lewis, after all that is his Rep, and would be his Rep in congress. He is a fraud just like David Scott. So who to vote for? Well my money and vote would go to Deborah Honeycutt. Check her out here. She is a doctor who has a clinic or two on the southside of the metro. This is her second run for this seat, and she made a respectable run in 2008. In that election she received 31% of the vote. Unlike some of her counterparts, she resides in the district she wants to represent, so she is not pulling a David Scott, and living outside of the district.  She also is a moderate Republican. She does not want to see America fenced off from the rest of the world like many of her Republican mates. And she is not afraid to say what her position is on a variety of issues including abortion which she calls a national offense. I did watch her in a debate recently, which you can check out here. She was not as sharp with her responses as I had hoped, but hell, our last president was about as sharp as a bowling ball, so that should not preclude her from being in Congress. I hope voters in the 13th boot Scott and send him back to Inman Park to fight with his neighbors over a community garden.

Where I got my info:

http://www.sos.georgia.gov/elections/election_results/2008_1104/029.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.peachpundit.com

http://www.karenhandel.com

http://www.southernpoliticalreport.com/

http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/30131

http://www.honeycuttforcongress.com/

Why the 13th in South DeKalb should be put back in the 4th

Many people in the 13th do not know that part of that gerrymandered district includes a small portion of south DeKalb county. Though I do not live in the 13th, I have family and friends who do, and many who moved into the district were surprised that they were not in the 4th. First, I think that the people of the 13th in DeKalb are more aligned politically and economically with the 4th than they are with the 13th. Nothing against the 13th, but it seems natural from a political standpoint that all of south DeKalb be in the 4th. Next, take a look at the GOP site for the 13th district. Notice anything peculiar. There is no mention of DeKalb county at the welcome. If you go to the leadership page, the link for the DeKalb GOP is linked to the Henry GOP. That is obvious a web authoring mistake, but it is pretty clear that no one is clicking the DeKalb GOP link for the 13th. When the legislature meets to redraw districts after the census, they should consider putting that portion of the 13th back to the 4th. It will not change representation, since that part of the 13th is solidly Democrat anyway.

Deborah Honeycutt to run for David Scott’s seat in 2010

Found this little piece while researching for the previous post. I knew she had challenged Scott during the last election, but was not sure if she was in the race for 2010. Here is her blog, Honeycutt Speaks. She is a fair tax person, which has my interest but not my support just yet. Here is her website. She has run before, and if she can get the donations and some exposure, Scott could be in trouble.

On another note. Michael Frisbee is running as a Democrat, or a New Liberty Democrat as he says in his press release. It’s funny that he would switch to become a quasi-Democrat since many of his positions are clearly conservative. Here is the announcement of his running as a New Liberty Democrat.

So now I have two races to cover that affects South DeKalb. Should be fun

David Scott fights public garden in his neighborhood, not in his district

OK, OK, this is real good. The almighty David Scott, the representative from Georgia’s 13th district is fighting against garden spacein Inman Park according to Creative Loafing. according to the article, Scott and his wife and some neighbors are not happy that a community vegetable garden is opening across the street from their mansions. The problem for me, among a few, is that Inman Park is not in the 13th district, it’s in the 5th. So here I am bewildered and a little bit pissed that the congressman is more interested in his 5th district neighborhood than his own district. David Scott, who represents a small portion of South Dekalb as well as parts of Henry, South Fulton, Douglas, and Cobb counties is fightng like hell to keep a little veggie garden out of his neighborhood while large chunks of his district are seeing the value of their modest homes decimated by the greed and corruption that was the housing boom. I bet he and his neighbors fared quite well through the housing bust, they must have since it seems their biggest problem is a veggie garden in their line of sight. And the rage begins t o boil inside of me. The congressman has decided that he will go to congress to fight for his poorer constituents on the Southside, but will not for the life of him live in “that” part of the metro. Hmm, time to boot his ass out. I will definitely be looking for his opponents to get their info posted here ASAP. A few tidbits about Mr. Scott here, here and here