Incumbent District 71 state Rep. David Stover (Rep.) squared off against Democratic challenger Cynthia Bennett in a brief forum held Sept. 27 at the Fayetteville Library.
District 71 includes the bulk of of eastern Coweta County, excluding the Senoia area, and a small portion of northwest Peachtree City between Ga. Highway 54 and Tyrone and the small northwest portion of Kedron Village.
Stover has represented District 71 for four years.
Citing the large number of uncontested legislative races,Bennett said she ran against Stover because, without contests, there is no opportunity for voices to be heard. Bennett noted that she ran for the legislative seat four years ago.
In one of the two questions posed, the candidates were asked to describe their litmus test for approving legislation.
Stover said he does read legislation and, to get his vote, that legislation must pass his litmus test.
“(If the legislation) expands government, I vote against it. Does it harm the citizens? If it does, I vote against it. Does it raise our taxes? If it does, I vote against it. Is it constitutional? If not, I vote against it,” Stover said.
Bennett in her response said she would not vote for legislation without examining it for secondary effects.
“We have to look at what it’s going to look like three years (later),” said Bennett. “If it has negative impacts I will not support it, but if it leads to the growth of Georgia and a strong labor force it will receive my support.”
The second question asked if the candidates supported the four amendments included in the November ballot. Of the four, perhaps the most controversial is one asking voters if the governor should be allowed to intervene in failing school systems. Both candidates said they did not support the amendment.
The event featured four other local races, which will be reported on in the Oct. 5 edition of The Citizen.
The forums were sponsored by the Fayette County Democratic and Republican parties, the Fayette Chamber of Commerce, the Fayette NAACP and the Fayette County Issues Tea Party.
