The Congressmen comment on the redistricting plan.

Georgia congressmen watch their words in redistricting process

By Jeffrey McMurry
Associated Press
March 27, 2005

Few topics send members of Congress tiptoeing on political eggshells more delicately than redistricting.

Republicans wanting to re-draw the lines to perhaps expand their 7-6 congressional advantage in upcoming elections were careful not to insult the current constituents much, in case they have to run for those seats again. Democrats trying to block the new map were careful not to demonize the proposed districts, knowing those could well be their future constituents.

[Rep. John] Barrow, who is from Athens, said he has no beef with the new district Republicans are trying to carve for him, which would not include his hometown and could make a GOP candidate more competitive there. It's changes to other seats - those currently held by Democrat Jim Marshall of Macon in middle Georgia and Republican Phil Gingrey of Marietta in northwestern Georgia - that Barrow says concern him.

Under the proposed changes, blacks in those districts would have less of an influence in elections, Barrow says. The courts would have to decide whether those districts are compliant under the Voting Rights Act.

Gingrey, on the other hand, would appear to be a near shoo-in for future re-election bids if the courts approve the new version of his district, which excludes some majority black, predominantly Democratic counties he currently represents. But a spokeswoman for the congressman says he has mixed feelings about the change. [Sure he does; spare us please.]

"We are obviously sad to lose the people in the southern part of our district," spokeswoman Becky Ruby said. "You give up some of this for what is ultimately a better map for everybody."

Marshall could have the most to lose. His district would stretch farther south along or near Interstate 75 through the middle part of the state, picking up a few more GOP-leaning territories and potentially making the seat more competitive - for future Democratic candidates, if not for him.

He had little to say about the plan - only a one-sentence statement, which hardly slammed it.

"If the districts change, I'll just be representing more people and will keep doing what I have been - trying my best to reflect the values and advance the interests of Georgia," Marshall said.

Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop, who represents the southwest corner of the state, had plenty of complaints about the way Marshall's district was redrawn but no complaints about his own.

Bishop said some of Georgia's biggest farming communities would lose either him or Rep. Jim Kingston, members of the powerful Appropriations Committee, as their congressman under the changes. But of more serious legal concern, Bishop said, is the reduction of black constituents in Marshall's district.

"I see some retrogression in Jim Marshall's district in terms of black voter-age population and the ability of black voters to influence that district," said Bishop, who is black. "It would appear that what has happened is it's been bleached."

Lynn Westmoreland, a freshman GOP congressman and former state lawmaker who has been the delegation's most vocal member on redistricting, says Republicans are ready for any court fight challenging the new map.

"I think it's going to go right through, clean as a whistle," Westmoreland said. "The Justice Department is going to love it. The people of Georgia are going to love it. The only people that don't like it are the whiners that in 2001 stuck these maps down our throats and didn't really care what we said about them."