Valdosta editorial: 'Don't take Kingston away' - Kingston is a Rep.; I am a Dem. We are friends. He has always served South Georgia well, very well!

U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia's First Congressional District

From The Valdosta Daily Times:

Redistricting is always a difficult time for legislators who want to protect their territory. But it’s also a difficult time for constituents who don’t want to lose a good representative.

Unfortunately, under Rep. Roger Lane, Chairman of the House Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Committee, that is exactly what will happen to Lowndes County. The new map will give Rep. Jack Kingston’s district all of Savannah and none of Lowndes.

Kingston said he will be in Atlanta today to lobby to keep what he has worked so hard for, and hopefully many others will also argue on his behalf. Considering that he is the only Congressman who visits Lowndes County, it would be a tremendous loss to the community to lose his oversight.

Kingston’s district as it is now includes half a dozen minor and major military installations and billions of dollars in agricultural interests. He serves on the Defense Appropriations Committee and on the Ag committee, ensuring that this region has the resources it needs to cultivate and protect those primary economic engines.

Losing Kingston would be a blow to this area and hurt the relationships that have taken so long to form. Given that it’s a thinly disguised political ploy to gerrymander a north Georgia district, the new map also represents the type of gamesmanship that Kingston is known for personally avoiding.

To the state leadership: Please leave Kingston in Lowndes. South Georgia is already losing so much to the north.

Why do you have to take the one politician that actually works for us?
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I think the jury may still be out on whether Rep. Kingston -- who sits on the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriates Committee -- will continue to serve Lowndes and Moody Air Force Base.