Hecht: My Senate vote makes Fayette stronger

Hecht: My

Senate vote makes Fayette stronger

Together, we have accomplished

a lot. We passed a $2.8 billion dollar property tax cut to exempt the

first $50,000 of the fair market value of all Georgian's homes over the

next four years. We have passed the Georgia Mentoring Act, expansion of

the DNA Database for convicted felons, Natural Gas Billing Relief legislation,

the Mental Health Care Ombudsman Program, Safe Schools legislation, criminal

background checks for children's daycare workers, Elder Abuse Prevention

legislation, and tough DUI laws.

Some of these measures were

made known to you inside this newspaper and some were probably not newsworthy.

[Two weeks ago,] an issue was deemed newsworthy, and I agree it was newsworthy.

I had the opportunity to vote to make Fayette County more powerful within

the state legislature.

The way to make a county more

powerful in the Legislature is to give a county more representation. This

rule is an old and hard rule of politics. The more votes generated from

a region, then the more powerful that region becomes. I voted to increase

Fayette's senate delegation to two Republican senators and one Democrat

senator, each with about one-third of Fayette's population. Fayette County

will now have a minimum of 12 committee assignments, and a larger team

of influence down at the Capitol. Fayette should have representation on

the appropriations and rules due to numbers, which would be great for

Fayette County.

The decision was made to put

Fayette's citizens ahead of partisan politics. The partisan move would

have been to pack all of Fayette's votes with Coweta into a sole senate

district and one vote. Instead, I voted so that Fayette County will now

have three senators with two out of three senators being Republicans and

one senator being a Democrat.

No matter which way the senate

goes in 2002, Fayette will have strong representation. In other words,

I voted so that Fayette County would gain a 33 percent increase in Republican

power as opposed to Democrat power.

The reason I voted this way

is because I believe that the portions of Fayette County south of the

34th District are more Republican leaning than Democrat leaning, and I

wanted to make sure that a continuity of interest was represented. The

two Republican senate districts include to the west portions of Fayette,

Coweta, and Spalding counties, which form a strong Republican district.

The other portion of Fayette includes portions of Fayette, Henry, and

other Republican strongholds. Both of the two Republican senate districts

have a continuity of interest with Fayette and are Republican leaning.

As a result, Fayette County becomes more powerful as opposed to less powerful.

Presently, Fayette County is

divided into two senate districts. Giving Fayette County one more senator

makes Fayette County more powerful. This rule of power has always been

that more votes allow more power. More votes on different committees increase

power, also. Clayton County is extremely powerful in the legislature because

it has seven legislators representing it. The increase in the number of

legislators for Fayette County is a strong positive action.

However, due to certain criticisms

from certain individuals, I voted to recommit the map along with every

other senator Aug. 8, 2001 for further changes. I have asked for certain

changes as well. Each vote put my party's interest well behind the interest

of Fayette County, and I disagree strongly with statements otherwise.

In addition, Fayette County

benefits from having bipartisan representation in it. I wish I had the

opportunity to address the statement about a three-way split of Fayette

County earlier.

The people of Fayette County

are tremendous, and I have worked harder for Fayette County to bring funds

into Fayette County than for any other county in my senate district.

As many will remember, last

year we brought over $300,000 to Fayette County for park land. This paper

decided to put "GOP Targets Hecht" as its cover story and briefly

mentioned the $300,000 grant inside the paper.

In the article last week, I

was not asked about why I voted for three senators for Fayette County.

The reason is simple greater philosophical and financial influence in

the legislature for Fayette County families and businesses.

I work extraordinarily hard

to bring funds to Fayette County. I have always put the people of Fayette

County ahead of politics, and I always will. I appreciate the opportunity

to serve on a public service team to help Fayette County. I appreciate

the publisher of this paper inviting me to write this column.

Greg K. Hecht

State Senator