Athens-Clarke County is split into five state legislative counties and cut into cubes (yes, Gerrymandering). We have three State House counties and two State Senate counties. Only one of these districts is predominantly democratic as the others include large rural areas outside the ACC to dilute the democratic vote.
In Clarke County, 70% of voters typically vote for Democratic candidates. If the districts were drawn in such a way that the priorities of our voters are represented in the state parliament, we would send two representatives from the democratic state house and a senator from the democratic state to the capitol.
But because of the gerrymandering by our GOP-controlled state assembly, we now have four Republicans and one Democrat in the legislature who supposedly represent Athens. Only we all know that the representatives of the GOP state are not interested in Athens and have at times worked to actively undermine our elected officials and our sovereignty.
Now they are taking things to a whole new level. Usually there is a process where our mayor and commissioners ask the state lawmakers who represent ACC to pass state law that affects only ACC, which results in our state delegation unanimously agreeing on the issue. For example, in 2017 the Mayor and the Commission wanted to expand the official boundaries of the city center to allow the Athens Development Agency to expand its tax base. Everyone agreed that this was desirable and asked all state legislatures representing parts of Athens to draft a bill to make the change. All five lawmakers then agreed that this was a good idea and they would all vote for it, and the official downtown boundaries were changed.
"It was a locally negotiated agreement and not everyone got what they wanted," said Rep. Spencer Frye (D-Athens), "but we worked together as a team and made it happen."
This unanimous process ensured that the elected Athens-Clarke county leaders were the drivers of all state laws specifically drafted for their county. If the deal were not unanimous, it would not even be put to the vote.
But now everything has changed because GOP reps Houston Gaines and Marcus Wiedower changed the way the five-headed caucus worked. You have made it a majority rule in all decisions relating to Athens and constitutional law. This means that our only Democratic representative, Frye, has nothing to say at all.
Gaines and Weidower have also decided to bypass our mayor and commissioners completely and write new laws that the M&C have not requested and over which they have no control.
Gaines and Wiedower submitted legal notices in our local newspaper, in which they indicated that they would "restore and reconstitute the ACC electoral board". (Our current board of directors is Democrat dominated, and apparently our GOP state officials want to turn this around.) The deadline expired on Monday without them submitting such a bill, but they could do so during the next year's legislature.
The other bill would change the local homestead exemption to lower property taxes. This could have a significant impact on the smallest county in the state, where 50% of the land is owned by the state (UGA), school district, or churches and therefore pays no property taxes.
This last move could be in response to efforts by the ACC leadership to create a special property tax freeze for low-income Athens homeowners to make it easier for them to stay in their homes and not be evicted by gentrification and rising taxes. As usual, the GOP wants to give tax breaks to the people who need them least. And this time around, they are ready to take control of the local government to do so.
This new takeover by Gaines and Wiedower has had a major impact on local control over Athens. The state government has control over the districts of the commission and education committee, the charter of the education committee, the charter of the electoral committee, and the Athens-Clarke county charter itself.
Until recently, all changes were driven by our locally elected officials. No more.
Rep. Houston Gaines has also proposed a statewide bill to limit the local authorities' budgeting for their police departments. He basically claims that the city guides we have chosen – in one of the most educated districts in the state – are incompetent and untrustworthy. Gaines, who got only 41% of the vote in ACC and who clearly has an ambitious eye on bigger things – remember, his vote was crucial in getting abortion restrictions passed a few years ago – said the "radical" local ACC government is "out" of control "and" putting life in danger ". This is the pretext he uses to negate our elected leaders and silence our voices.
In addition, Gaines and Wiedower worked out their plans behind closed doors without any transparency.
"I am deeply disappointed with the actions of the new delegation," said Rep. Frye. "I understand it was a tough choice for everyone, but petty politics don't serve anyone. I would hope that we can advance the important task of getting Athens vaccinated and getting back to school and work."
Call our legislative representatives to give them your opinion:
• Rep. Houston Gaines (R-117): 404-656-0298 or [email protected]
• Marcus Wiedower MP (R-119): 404-656-0325 or [email protected]
• Rep. Spencer Frye (D-118): 404-656-0265 or [email protected]
• Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-46): 404-463-1366 or [email protected]
• Senator Frank Ginn (R-47): 404-656-4700 or [email protected]
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