Georgia

Republicans are rattling their sabers this

election year, promising an all-out battle to

take control of at least one house of the General

Assembly.

That's

especially important to political leaders in

heavily Republican Fayette County, where

legislators have complained for years that

Democratic leaders have repeatedly bottled up

their bills in committee.

Recent

press releases from the state Republican

leadership have cited Gov. Roy Barnes' recently

passed education reform bill and other Barnes

programs as key issues that Republicans will

capitalize on as they make their bid for

dominance.

Local

party chairman Eric Dial said this week he thinks

the GOP has a real chance of making Georgia a

two-party state.

"There's

a distinct possibility we could gain control of

one or both of the chambers," said Dial. He

said Republicans always turn out in higher

numbers in presidential election years, and with

a growing number of Republicans moving into the

state in recent years, that gives his party an

edge.

Judy

Chidester, vice chairman of Fayette's Democratic

Party, begs to disagree. "Everybody gets

more active in a presidential year than any other

time," she said. "They've raised a good

amount of money for [GOP presidential candidate

George W.] Bush, but Gore has raised a lot of

money too. "Republicans always try to take

control of the House and Senate. I don't think

they're going to do it this time," she said.

One

thing both party leaders agree on: 2000 is an

important year in state politics.

"We

all see this as a really important year,"

said Chidester, "primarily because of

reapportionment."

With

new census figures available, the winners in this

year's elections will be in charge of drawing new

district lines and may be able to use that

process to ensure future dominance in some key

districts.

As

evidence of the importance of this year's

election, Dial points to Gov. Barnes' use of his

own campaign war chest to finance Democratic

candidates in close races.

Dial

said he believes voters are ready for a change.

"Voters are dissatisfied with the policies

and initiatives being pushed forward by the

Democrats," he said. "Education reform

particularly has stirred people up.

"The

people want smaller government, they want less

government, they want more efficient government,

and you don't get more efficient government by

creating more bureaucracies," Dial said,

referring to Barnes' creation of the Georgia

Regional Transportation Authority and the

creation of additional quasi-governmental groups

in the education reform bill.

"We've

already got the Georgia Department of

Transportation. We didn't need another governing

body," he said. "With their mentality

of bigger government and more bureaucracies, the

voters are going to make a statement that we want

less government and therefore we want Republicans

in charge," said Dial.

"I

think Gov. Barnes is extremely popular,"

Chidester said with confidence. "A lot of

people I talk to are teachers, and they generally

seem to be happy with Barnes."

Barnes'

plans are intelligent and well thought-out, she

said. "He knows where he wants to go and he

knows how to get there. He's not as reactive as

some of our governors have been in the

past."

Dial

also accused the governor and the state

Democratic leadership of purposely increasing

power at the state level and taking control away

from local governments.

Chidester

said she has no problem with that. "If you

think that the program is sensible and we have a

progression of how we're going to get from point

A to point B, that's good," she said.

"It would be different if we were handing

over power to people who have grandiose ideas

with no plans how to implement them.

"Local

control would be great," she added, "if

you thought your local officials were doing a

bang-up job," but she cited frequent and

loud criticism of Fayette government from

residents, many of them active Republicans, as

evidence that local control is not all that hot

of an idea.

"You've

got to have some confidence that the people who

are local know what they are doing," she

said, adding, "I'm really happy with Speaker

[Tom] Murphy too. I worry about what will happen

when he's no longer around."

Dial

and Chidester both expressed displeasure with a

state Democratic response to Republican optimism

about the elections. In a press release last

week, state Democratic Chairman David Worley

pointed out that Republicans have lost three

seats even before the election has begun, with

two defections to the Democratic Party and one

Republican in a heavily Democratic district

deciding to retire.

The

local leaders both criticized state Rep. Randy

Sauder of Smyrna, who switched parties from

Republican to Democrat on the final day of

qualifying, leaving no time for another

Republican to run.

"I

don't care what party I'm in, that was

unethical," said Dial. "If you decide

midway to change parties, then you should step

down and start over," agreed Chidester,

though she added a caveat. "We've seen

Republicans do it too," she said.

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