First look at new congressional voting maps (Atlanta, Savannah: house, taxes)

[aries4118]

John Barrow moved out of Savannah, Tom Price locked out of Buckhead in new maps | Political Insider



Enjoy!

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by aries4118

John Barrow moved out of Savannah, Tom Price locked out of Buckhead in new maps | Political Insider



Enjoy!

GOP redistricting plan would tighten grip on congressional delegation *| ajc.com

[cwlawrence]

Gotta love Gerrymandering

[ATLHRLGUY]

Originally Posted by cwlawrence

Gotta love Gerrymandering

Exactly, what else is new.

That guy Barrow in Savannah can't get a break it seems. Why do the Repubs want him out so bad? What is he doing down there in Chatham, don't tell me he's actually trying to help those in need...the nerve . Kingston's still sitting pretty, who I hear is a closet democrat, but does that really matter when you hardly break party-line on issues?? Actually I hear many of these politicians don't believe half the garbage that comes out of their mouth (could have fooled me) but as we already know they succumb to the almighty dollar- Just spineless.

For all the good that foundations, churches and other charitable organizations do, sometimes they just aren't enough and to see this relentless assault on the middle class, working poor and minorities through redistricting or any other policy or political debates i.e taxes, health care, voting rights etc. is sad.

Yes, I know the gov. is wasteful and can be inefficient, (I'm right there with you) but the political dialogue to cut everything, (mainly social programs) and starve the feds of resources to the point it can't serve and protect those citizens that need it the most is irresponsible and IMO immoral.

[aries4118]

A map that shows which proposed districts lean Republican, and which ones lean Democrat...

Map: Proposed Georgia Congressional boundaries *| ajc.com

[aries4118]

New districts further polarize *| ajc.com

[Stars&StripesForever]

These districts do not look oddly shaped. To me, they don't look gerrymandered, much like the old district that stretched from Dekalb County to Augusta to Savannah that helped put a Democrat in office. These districts are generally cohesive and don't look oddly shaped. If anything, these maps look more fair than they've ever been. Keep in mind, previous gerrymandered districts benefited Democrats. These aren't even gerrymandered, but Democrats are realizing that when all things are fair, they can't gain any advantage in most areas of the state. Thus, they're talking about "polarization". Never mind that this is the first time that Republicans have led the drawing of congressional districts and that Democrats had over a century to do this. Even then, these districts look fair.

1992 11th Congressional District: For Cynthia McKinney

http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/currentCD.small.jpg

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by aries4118

New districts further polarize *| ajc.com

Thanks for the link to that excellent article by Jim Galloway, aries. He recounts some interesting political history:

The state’s new congressional map would bring to completion a 20-year project born of an alliance struck by the likes of Cynthia McKinney and other African-American political leaders. When Democrat Zell Miller was governor, they began working with Republicans to boost both factions by making white congressional districts in Georgia whiter, and black districts blacker.

*****

But ultimately, African-Americans will have to own up to their role in the near-extinction of Southern white Democrats, Thurmond said.

The year was 1991, and the Legislature was drawing new maps. Georgia had only one majority black congressional district, covering the city of Atlanta and much of Fulton County. Lewis, a soft-spoken veteran of Selma, had recently beaten Julian Bond for the seat.

African-Americans in a Legislature dominated by white rural Democrats wanted to send two more black Georgians to Congress. And Republicans were out to protect an up-and-comer in their ranks: Newt Gingrich, the state’s sole Republican in Congress.

Thurmond was chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, but argued against the “max black” strategy. “I knew the max black strategy would lead to less influence,” Thurmond said. “I prayed that I was wrong, but it turned out I wasn’t.”

Black legislators overruled their caucus leader. “Somewhere in that process, as we saw things getting kind of squirrely, a couple things became obvious,” said Steve Anthony, then the chief of staff of House Speaker Tom Murphy. “One was that an alliance had been struck.”

Together, black Democrats and white Republicans had a near-majority in the House. Similar cooperation was occurring in the Senate.

The most startling product of the alliance was a new majority-black, 17-county congressional district that snaked from south DeKalb County to Macon, then stretched east to Augusta. Conveniently, it siphoned African-Americans out of Gingrich’s 6th District.

One of the House members at the heart of the alliance between Republicans and African-Americans won the new, serpentine 11th District in 1992. In a sense, Cynthia McKinney — who beat Thurmond in the primary — was a gift to Democrats from a rising Georgia GOP. (Bishop first won his seat that year, too.)

A protected Gingrich would win his own seat in 1992 — and become speaker of the U.S. House in 1994, when Republicans won a majority.

The maps were eventually thrown out by federal courts because of an over-reliance on race, but Anthony said the die was cast.

“This started a new approach to reapportionment,” he said. “By the 2002-2004 elections, you had a majority of the districts in the country, and even in Georgia, being overwhelmingly Democratic or Republican.”

[AcidSnake]

You really get excited by politics, eh arjay?

Originally Posted by arjay57

Thanks for the link to that excellent article by Jim Galloway, aries. He recounts some interesting political history:

The state’s new congressional map would bring to completion a 20-year project born of an alliance struck by the likes of Cynthia McKinney and other African-American political leaders. When Democrat Zell Miller was governor, they began working with Republicans to boost both factions by making white congressional districts in Georgia whiter, and black districts blacker.

*****

But ultimately, African-Americans will have to own up to their role in the near-extinction of Southern white Democrats, Thurmond said.

The year was 1991, and the Legislature was drawing new maps. Georgia had only one majority black congressional district, covering the city of Atlanta and much of Fulton County. Lewis, a soft-spoken veteran of Selma, had recently beaten Julian Bond for the seat.

African-Americans in a Legislature dominated by white rural Democrats wanted to send two more black Georgians to Congress. And Republicans were out to protect an up-and-comer in their ranks: Newt Gingrich, the state’s sole Republican in Congress.

Thurmond was chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, but argued against the “max black” strategy. “I knew the max black strategy would lead to less influence,” Thurmond said. “I prayed that I was wrong, but it turned out I wasn’t.”

Black legislators overruled their caucus leader. “Somewhere in that process, as we saw things getting kind of squirrely, a couple things became obvious,” said Steve Anthony, then the chief of staff of House Speaker Tom Murphy. “One was that an alliance had been struck.”

Together, black Democrats and white Republicans had a near-majority in the House. Similar cooperation was occurring in the Senate.

The most startling product of the alliance was a new majority-black, 17-county congressional district that snaked from south DeKalb County to Macon, then stretched east to Augusta. Conveniently, it siphoned African-Americans out of Gingrich’s 6th District.

One of the House members at the heart of the alliance between Republicans and African-Americans won the new, serpentine 11th District in 1992. In a sense, Cynthia McKinney — who beat Thurmond in the primary — was a gift to Democrats from a rising Georgia GOP. (Bishop first won his seat that year, too.)

A protected Gingrich would win his own seat in 1992 — and become speaker of the U.S. House in 1994, when Republicans won a majority.

The maps were eventually thrown out by federal courts because of an over-reliance on race, but Anthony said the die was cast.

“This started a new approach to reapportionment,” he said. “By the 2002-2004 elections, you had a majority of the districts in the country, and even in Georgia, being overwhelmingly Democratic or Republican.”

[K-SawDude]

You can argue that, in terms of line drawing, there's no obvious gerrymandering. But if you look at the demographics, it's really apparent that they are trying to pack African-American voters and white voters into separate pockets so as to dilute the number of swing districts. And it's clear from those articles that both Democrats and Republicans have been pushing us in this direction for years.

The public ought to be concerned about the way this is going. We're likely to get more and more fringe candidates from both sides who will have little ability and motivation to compromise and pass legislation with one another. I sort of wish we had a Voting Rights Act that put a maximum on partisanship (e.g., no district can have one party support greater than 65%). Maybe that would be impossible to draw, but I think we'd be likely to get better candidates in each district.

On that note: I'm sort of surprised the Atlanta suburbs aren't "swingier" down here. It seems like for most other major U.S. cities, the suburbs tend to be more moderate than the cities and the rural areas. Doesn't it seem like Cobb and Gwinnett ought to be less red and more purple by now?