And JOHN

MUNFORD

[email protected]

The state Senate's

proposed district map went back to committee for changes last week, but

east Coweta's position on the map remained pretty much unchanged when

the full Senate approved the map last Friday.

Legislators

are redrawing both House and Senate districts in a special session, an

exercise they go through every ten years to take into account population

changes revealed in the U.S. Census.

Congressional

lines will be redrawn in a second special session once the state Legislature

districts are finished.

Republican

leaders have repeatedly charged that Democrats, who control both houses

of the Legislature, are drawing the districts in such a way as to unfairly

dilute Republican voting strength.

"We will

almost certainly see the Democrats in federal court," said Ralph

Reed, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, in a press release Tuesday.

"This map is unconstitutional, it violates the Voting Rights Act,

destroys the integrity of local communities and will not withstand federal

court scrutiny."

East Coweta

Sen. Mitch Seabaugh lost a few parts of Peachtree City while picking up

parts of Pike and Troup counties. His district retains most of Peachtree

City, Tyrone and Brooks, though.

Seabaugh said

he doesn't think the map will be approved by the U.S. Justice Department,

but if it is, the lawsuits over the map will be filed after that, he added.

"We have

a bad map," Seabaugh said. "... I honestly don't think we'll

have to run in these districts."

Sen. Greg Hecht,

D-Jonesboro, a member of the Reapportionment Committee, said he believes

the map is fair, and Republicans' charges concerning the Voting Rights

Act are "a weak argument ... being made for political reasons only."

The act prohibits

redistricting that dilutes minority voting strength.

Hecht also

defended the splitting of 87 counties into more than one Senate district,

something Republicans have criticized. "If you want to dilute the

voting power of a county, just solidify it into one district and leave

it standing alone as an island," he said.

The reason

his home county, Clayton, is powerful in the state Legislature, Hecht

said, is because it is represented by a seven-member delegation.

"The partisan

thing would be to lump Fayette and Coweta together with one senator and

let them be an island unto themselves," he said.

It's also in

counties' best interests to have senatorsin both parties, he said.

"With

a bipartisan delegation, no matter what happens in the Legislature, you

have a voice," he said. "If you have a conservative initiative

or seek funding for a project ... you gain influence with more votes."