And JOHN THOMPSON

[email protected]

Fayette County will be represented

a subcommittee Monday.

State legislators are meeting

in special session to redraw district boundaries to account for shifts

in population, an exercise repeated every ten years following the U.S.

Census.

Thirty-four representatives

would be placed in 24 districts represented by more than one member, a

practice that was common in Georgia politics in the '70s and '80s, but

dropped in 1991 in response to federal concerns that it had been used

in the past to dilute black voting strength.

Under the plan, state Rep.

Kathy Cox, now representing Fayette's 105th District, would have to run

for reelection in a new district that includes south Fayette along with

parts of three other counties: Henry, Spalding and Butts. More importantly,

she would be running for one of two seats in a district that includes

three sitting Republican representatives, herself, John Yates (current

106th) and John Lunsford (current 109th).

"It's unbelievable,"

Cox said Monday afternoon. "What they're doing is packing Republicans

into these multi-member districts and pitting us against each other. Fayette

County is getting the short end of the stick in all of this."

The new 84th District would

be twice as large as current House districts, as large as the average

Senate district with about 95,000 people, Cox said, adding that her biggest

concern is the amount of money that would be required to run for the multi-member

seats. All candidates in a multi-member district would run district-wide.

"This would double and

triple the cost of campaigning," she said. "Everybody is upset

already about the money in politics. Now you have a Democrat-controlled

Legislature making it hard for people to run for office. How are regular

people supposed to get in there and get involved in politics?

"It goes against the grain

of everything our form of government is supposed to stand for," added

Cox, who teaches government in high school.

North Fayette also would be

represented by a multi-member district, the 49th, stretching into the

city of Atlanta.

A small sliver of Peachtree

City would be in a new single-member 85th District, encompassing much

of Lynn Westmoreland's current 28th.

Westmoreland, who is the House

minority leader, said he is happy with his new district, but not happy

with the overall plan. Fayette's interests are not compatible with those

in downtown Atlanta, and the new 49th district makes no sense, he said.

"We're a suburban community,"

he said, adding that the whole process is "a raw deal for Fayette

and Coweta counties."

In the Senate districts, Fayette

is tied in with Riverdale.

"There's nothing wrong

with Riverdale, but every zoning meeting I've attended, people have said

they don't want to look like Riverdale," Westmoreland said.

He also suggested that Democrats

may have intended to pit him against Cox for reelection, but missed. His

new district stops just across the street from Cox's house.

"I guess they gave me

a great district to cause dissension within my caucus," he added.

Westmoreland said he planned

to work all day Tuesday and Wednesday on strategy before the vote Wednesday.

Democrats defend the plan,

saying multi-member districts will give counties more voice and more representation.

When cities and counties approach the state for funding for projects or

help with issues, they'll have more than one representative to plead their

case, Democrats say.

But the lone Democrat in Fayette's

legislative delegation, Sen. Greg Hecht, declined to support or oppose

the House plan, saying he hasn't seen a completed version of it yet. "I'm

not a big fan of multi-member districts," he said.

The full House will now consider

the proposed House districts, along with a new district plan for the Senate,

approved by that body Friday. When the House passes its plan, that plan

will also go to the Senate for approval.

If the House and Senate make

changes in each other's plans, the plans will go to a joint committee

to iron out the differences before final adoption.

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