Running out the clock.
Taking the air out of the ball.
These cliches are familiar to football players and fans alike. We’ve all seen it: the one team gets away with a personal foul on a play that results in a touchdown for the offending team in a close game. As the clock runs, that team, now leading, runs the ball up the middle. No passes, no need to take a risk. Just run out the clock.
This analogy has been successfully used by politicians (especially Democrats) for years. Remember White Water? Remember the term, “That depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is? Remember budgetary reconciliation shenanigans to pass the largest spending bill in history? IRS targeting? Benghazi? Private email server with classified information?
It’s a favorite tactic of the left. Misdirect, obfuscate, plead the Fifth, delay, and take the air out of the ball. After a year or so, any challenge is met with, “That’s old news, nothing to see here, move on (.org).”
Fayette County, go back to mediation for an indeterminate timeframe. There sure appears to be no intent to actually have a bench trial to adjudicate the Voting Rights suit championed by the NAACP. Take the air out of the ball. There have already been elections under the district voting rules. According to the Court of Appeals, none are supported by a legal judgement but does that really matter now? Those of us still arguing are simply middle linebackers stopping the run, but the clock keeps moving.
Call me cynical, but I believe that the only thing being mediated behind closed doors is the legal bill and who will pay the lawyers.
I was taught long ago that it was not enough to point out a problem; suggest a solution. Here is my suggestion:
In order to not segregate our county but still allow a greater voice for the 33 percent of our county that are Democrats, let’s scrap district voting but change how at-large voting is held.
Rather than have each seat voted upon by every voter as a separate ballot selection, have all candidates run truly at-large. If three seats are up for election and there are seven candidates running, each voter is allowed to select three from the list. The requirement for 50 percent majority runoff rules would not apply. Whichever three candidates receive the most votes win the seats.
This way, if there is a Democrat who can capture a high majority of the Democrat voters (and those voters actually vote) then it’s very likely that the top three would include that candidate. If there were only two seats to fill, the success of a Democrat is reduced, but this is fair in a county that is after all 67 percent Republican.
There you go, a potential solution that allows for enhanced representation without suggesting (or declaring) that the 67 percent are racist and segregating us along racial lines. If such a solution has been suggested in the past and squelched by the majority, shame on us.
Don’t tell me about rules that will have to change for such a solution, all it took was a judge’s signature to change rules that had been in place for decades. If we really want a solution that brings us together rather than driving a wedge between us, this could work.
There’s something to mediate.
Alan Felts
Peachtree City, Ga.
