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DEL.ICIO.USWho are our county commissioners really looking out for?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Modern day humans are intent on stereotyping themselves and others with misplaced social stigmas that can lead to misunderstanding and division.
Take politics, for example.
It’s rare to have a Democrat referred to as a conservative, or a Republican as a liberal, even though there are some politicians from both parties who have positions with both points of view.
If you listen to talk radio and watch the Sunday morning talking head shows as often as I do you hear our legislators use stereotypes and point fingers at one another while they waste our time and money with nothing but more bickering.
When State Rep. Hugh Floyd (D-Norcross) proposed legislation to expand the Gwinnett County Commission in an effort to accommodate our growing population with smaller districts, all we heard at first was “well this is just an attempt to add a Democrat to the commission.”
Not true, according to Floyd.
Floyd told the AJC that it’s hard to draw a political map with more districts that doesn’t include a Democratic seat, especially in southern Gwinnett. (That’s because of the influx of ethnic minorities who tend to vote Democrat.)
Floyd also pointed out to the paper that he didn’t draw the map. The nonpartisan state Legislative Reapportionment office did.
I believe there were certain “public officials” who just so happen to be card carrying members of one political stereotype who were (and probably still are) ready for a fight solely because they don’t want to lose any of their power in our county government.
Had Floyd acted purely for political reasons, I would have been the first to blast him (and anyone else who tried that) and remind him that he is probably only the District 99 state representative because he ran unopposed.
The Legislature didn’t pass Floyd’s plan, but it remains on the table for next year’s session.
During his farewell address in 1796, President George Washington made a very prophetic statement, considering the current political climate. He spoke about the move to a party system and its potential for divisiveness:
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”
With all the bickering over these new commission seats, it almost makes you wonder just who the current commissioners are looking out for, doesn’t it?
Maybe their reaction explains exactly why southwest Gwinnett has been so neglected by the commission and why we have to deal with the conditions like traffic, crime, and other quality of life issues like we have today.
Permalink | Comments (38) | Post your comment | Categories: Woody Bass
Comments
By Michael H. Smith
April 22, 2007 10:37 PM | Link to this
What!?
Woody, go do some Gwinnett County homework starting with lesson number: “Fix it with Six” 100.
Rep. Floyd’s statement is contradictory. Like voting for the war after voting against, with the end result of voting for the war.
By roska
April 22, 2007 10:56 PM | Link to this
What is your commissioner (Nasuti) doing about any of your concerns? If he’s doing nothing then why would having yet another politician (democrat or republican) make it any better?
We have 435 congressmen and 100 senators in Washington DC. If we doubled that would we get better government or more gridlock? It is not the number of people you elect, it is the quality of people that the ELECTORATE puts in office that matters.
I say focus on getting good, community minded people to actually run for office. We’ve got two on the commission now that are community minded (not real estate brokers and lawyers). One more straight arrow would do the trick.
By GA
April 22, 2007 11:04 PM | Link to this
Hey Woody, we never call Democrats conservatives because they are stereotypically and politically known as “Blue Dogs”.
Go Dawgs!
By jim d
April 23, 2007 7:25 AM | Link to this
Gwinnett County REMAINS Gwinnett County.
Nuff said?
By Chuck
April 23, 2007 10:29 AM | Link to this
Hmmmm - my commissioner is Lorraine Green, and she’s doing one terrific job for us. I know Bert pretty well too (in fact, a group of us enjoyed their company at a picnic on Sunday afternoon), and can say the same for him. Mike is also excellent - fortunately, you only have to count to “three” in Gwinnett to get anything done. Give ‘em a call and see for yourself.
By jim d
April 23, 2007 1:26 PM | Link to this
too bad we can’t get 3 of them to agree to slow construction until the schools get caught up.
By Woody Bass
April 23, 2007 1:27 PM | Link to this
Michael: I think your misunderstanding something. I am not endorsing the idea of expanding the commission. I understand why its being proposed but I am not sure thats the right answer.
jim d: I dont consider a democrat like Lieberman or even Zell Miller to be a liberal. Both are (or were) democrats. The whole rant here is.. they focus more on pointing out that they are left/democrat and they are right/republican than they are on getting anything meaningful done. OH and Go Gators!
By Michael H. Smith
April 23, 2007 6:38 PM | Link to this
I don’t know there Woody, your blog writing seems to favor this six districts idea. Anyhow, if you where present at the last go around pushing six commissioners and attended the town hall meetings then, you should know there was not enough support for this thing to fly. Politics remains a game of numbers, real numbers, not the rancorous rhetoric from a loud faction impersonating the lack thereof. Had there been genuine majority enthusiasms county-wide, things would have played out differently.
You are right in this: Republicans will not readily or easily give away any power they gained, it took them too long and it was very hard to win in this state that was controlled literally by Democrats for about 135 years. For what it is worth, creating six districts would produce at least one Democrat on the commission and the districts (going back to the last attempt) as drawn then, resembled in near carbon copy the districts former Gov. Roy Barnes had drawn up in a last ditch effort to save Democrat power. Those districts in the south of the county, make no doubts, would be Democratic.
However, giving you an accolade of sorts, by reason of what your content virtually surrounds in pointing out a troubling occurrence that is in our present body politic: No longer are the issues dealt with on a bases of what is right or wrong, it has become an agenda on what is left or right and nothing else sadly seems to matter. The once highly praised middle ground is quickly becoming a DMZ, a wasteland meant for political casualties.
By Woody Bass
April 24, 2007 7:47 AM | Link to this
Michael: And I suppose I should also point out, that I refuse to join any member of any party. Have I voted in the primaries under one party? Yes… but that was usually to vote against certain politicians (Cynthia, Kerry in particular).
As for expanding the commission… I havent made a final determination on where I stand just yet. On one hand, I understand why its being proposed (mostly due to growth in the county) and on the other hand.. the last thing I want is more government. I think they’re might be some other options proposed that we could be hearing about soon.
By Michael H. Smith
April 24, 2007 1:50 PM | Link to this
Woody: Most of “the options” where debated the last time. I can’t really see anything new that wasn’t discussed before arising. Growth was one of the excuses previously expressed for the “cause in need” to increase the size of the commission.
We agree on distain for bigger government and probably agree that “cause in need” requires an efficient government: No more and no less government than is required to get things done. We probably would equally agree it is not the number of people in government but the quality of people we put into office that makes for good governance: There the canon is often defeated by assumptions.
I had a story recently told to me of about a guy (as so happens this took place in Florida) that was by anyone’s measure not qualified for the job of county commissioner. In fact the very reason those backing him elected this guy was because, he was considered totally inadequate. As it turns out, this nothing of a guy, actually made the best county commissioner to ever serve in that office.
What did this under-educated uncouth fellow do that made him so successful, like none of the others before him?
He held county government accountable to the citizens.
By Bruce Wilcox
April 24, 2007 8:28 PM | Link to this
Expanding the number of commissioners is just common sense, how can four commissioners represent near 700,000 people adequately? Having four commissioners in charge of a budget such as ours is even worse.
By Bruce Wilcox
April 24, 2007 9:52 PM | Link to this
Here is just the level of representation on the state and federal levels in part or whole in Gwinnett County Gwinnett County - Senate 5 Senate 9 Senate 40 Senate 41 Senate 45 Senate 48 Senate 55 House 51 House 88 House 95 House 96 House 97 House 98 House 99 House 100 House 101 House 102 House 103 House 104 House 105 House 106 House 107 Congressional 4 Congressional 7 Congressional 10 Congressional 13
and four commissioners, I rest my case.
By Michael H. Smith
April 25, 2007 10:09 AM | Link to this
Ah the real numbers just keep getting in the way of those fuzzy facts. (just like the last time around)
Serving in three counties Barrow, Gwinnett and Walton Rep. John Linder, one guy, fulltime office holder, represents 720,303 people (near as wikipedia says) in his 7th district congressional seat.
Serving in only one county Chairman Charles Bannister, one guy, full-time office holder represents near 700,000 people in his at large county seat – along with the assistance of four other part-time office holders bearing the representation load of near 175,000 people each in their respective one county districts.
So we are under-represented because five people are overwhelmed and need more bodies on a one county commission board, one of them serving full-time just like a congressman John Linder - only one guy, representing as many people as the overwhelmed five?
We may be politically misrepresented but we are not numerically under-represented in our county government.
By Bruce Wilcox
April 25, 2007 11:19 AM | Link to this
Rep. John Linder and Charles Bannister, two perfect examples, tell me what either has done for the good of Gwinnett county?
By Chuckie
April 25, 2007 11:20 AM | Link to this
Mine is doing an absolutely great job for the small handful that actually voted and thus put her there, thank you. I see no clamoring for more commissioners outside of those that are politically and financially motivated.
By Bruce Wilcox
April 25, 2007 11:38 AM | Link to this
Chuckie want to offer up a few examples of what this politically and financially motivated statement means?
By Chuckie
April 25, 2007 11:48 AM | Link to this
Hmmmmm - how about oh, say, maybe an obvious disgust of perhaps Bannister or Linder. Again, there’s hardly a groundswell about this non-issue, except for Kenerly constituents (he has begun turning on his own lately), Butch Poss (has formed an HOA coalition as a money-making / political venture, has his nameplate ready for his new District seat), George Thorndyke (ready to pave over the rest of Gwinnett), and some disgruntled Democrats. Sorry - back to work, no more time to play mental crank-wanking.
By Bruce Wilcox
April 25, 2007 11:58 AM | Link to this
Good idea Chuckie stop wasting the companies time making statements you can not back-up. The childish twisting of what I asked to a statement of obvious disgust boarders on paranoia. Again the question remains, “Rep. John Linder and Charles Bannister, two perfect examples, tell me what either has done for the good of Gwinnett county?”
And Chuckie thanks for playing “Spin the Party Line”!
By WD 40
April 25, 2007 1:56 PM | Link to this
We may be politically misrepresented but we are not numerically under-represented in our county government.
By Bruce Wilcox
April 25, 2007 2:50 PM | Link to this
Does typing it bolder make it more official?
By WD 40
April 25, 2007 3:11 PM | Link to this
Doesn’t make it any less true.
By Bruce Wilcox
April 25, 2007 7:49 PM | Link to this
Got me on that one.
By Sam
April 25, 2007 10:19 PM | Link to this
Let me ask a dumb question:
Just what is having six supposed to solve? Who says four commissioners are overworked and can’t respond because of the sheer number of constituents? Who? Ever asked one of them?
My commissioner responds to me within a day or so, as I would expect.
If your commissioner doesn’t respond, it doesn’t matter how many constituents he has - 10,000 or 150,000 - what matters is just someone who wants to do his job.
Let’s see: Fulton - seven - when the last time anything good happened there? Dekalb - seven - commissioners walking out of commission meetings Cobb - five - works just fine Gwinnett - five - works just fine
Most of our cities have five council men, yet the largest is 20,000 people or so. By the constituent number game, cities should only have one councilmember. (Unless you’re in Snellville where you need to get rid of the entire bunch!)
Georgia has had the same number of legislators for who knows how long, yet our poplulation has doubled in the last 20 years. Do you want to increase that number, too?
It ain’t about numbers - it’s about the person.
By Bruce Wilcox
April 26, 2007 12:06 AM | Link to this
So I’ll repeat the question, “Rep. John Linder and Charles Bannister, two perfect examples, tell me what either has done for the good of Gwinnett county?”.
Plus I do not like the fact that just five people have that much control over such a large budget.
It is not all about responding to complaints, there are other issues that a larger board may provide some different input than what we have seen over the past decade. We may elect different people from time to time, but the growth and decay just keep rolling along.
I do understand the point of keeping the board small that some have, getting shafted by four hurts less than getting shafted by six.
By Mikey
April 26, 2007 11:17 PM | Link to this
District 4’s Commissioner is looking our for his developer friends and family.
By Joey
April 27, 2007 9:28 AM | Link to this
You’re right on it, Sam. I have no need to worry about bitter negative nerds either (Bruce included - he dislikes everything, particularly those things that work which he cannot fathom) - our commissioner is GREAT, and we have made tons of real progress, and that’s the bottom line. No clue where the evil “growth and decay” are happening (getting up and DOING something is recommended here), but they are no longer present in my neighborhood. Did I mention that both my wife and I are on county citizen boards, which happen to take lots of the stress off of commissioners (not to mention making ourselves known to them)?
By Bruce Wilcox
April 27, 2007 10:31 AM | Link to this
To the Joey’s of Gwinnett that can not see the big picture. Over-developement that has been allowed in the county since I moved here in 93’ results in, over crowded schools, overloaded highways, water and sewer systems, every service you can think of is overloaded.
New developments and shopping centers keep going up farther and farther up I-85. Result, all the big box stores follow the crowd leaving behind the Jimmy Carters, the Indian Trails and the newest victim, sections of PleasantHill.
Over the years we changed some commissioners and even a chairman on the promise that the unlimited and uncontroled growth would be held in check, it has not.
The same problem we have had since 93’ still exsists? Gee, we keep electing new people, but the problem still exsists? In Gwinnett this is fitting, how many bricks have to hit you on the head until you realize it is not the people we elect that our the problem, but the way our government is set-up.
This isn’t Mayberry anymore kids, time to step in the real world and actually address the issue. The districts are too large and now too diverse for one commissioner to handle all the problems properly. I asked a question about two people who represent the county as a whole and what good they have done, so far no answer.
Next time a commissioner calls you personal like, tell them Gomer said “Hey”.
By Rosy
April 27, 2007 11:23 AM | Link to this
I also do not care about anyone’s personal grudges against either Bannister or Linder - neither is a district commissioner (the topic here). Mine is GREAT, and I agree - things have definitely improved since my arrival in 1983. Haven’t seen any whiners at the meetings or on the citizen boards either - it would do us all good if the negative nellies would just pull their heads out of their rears and leave.
By Sue
April 27, 2007 11:34 AM | Link to this
It must be a sad and isolated life to always seek the dark side of things, and to miss the beautiful trees. Our commish is also terrific, and we’ve come a long way with the help we have received - walk toward the light!
By Bruce Wilcox
April 27, 2007 11:55 AM | Link to this
Hey Rosey why not answer the question about Bannister or Linder?
Now I unnderstand why Southerns love Bush, ‘Mr President this plan isn’t working”, Bush, “Good, then that is the one we will stick it”.
Leave, are you kidding, this is like living in the middle of a Marx Brothers movie.
By Woody Bass
April 27, 2007 1:18 PM | Link to this
Rosy/Sue/et al: I am curious, who is your commissioner?
By Rosie
April 27, 2007 6:49 PM | Link to this
Lorraine Green, of course! Bert is also outstanding, and Mike is similarly a terrific asset to Gwinnett. I will admit that from personal experience the other two (Kevin and Charles) are wasted oxygen. Yes, DOING something rather than just sitting around the house actually works. Sorry about Bruce, but I’ve crossed his path a few times in the past - he pretty much has nothing else left in life to do but to gripe and be hateful about all the wrong things.
By Bruce Wilcox
April 28, 2007 2:10 AM | Link to this
Rosie here is a clue for you, read the entire column before commenting, it will gives you a little credibility.
I just responded to comments made about expanding the commission, I did not bring Linder or Bannister into the discussion, all I did was state the two were perfect examples of have two elected officals that have done litte for the county.
You say the county has improved, can I ask what you enjoy the most, the neat little trailer classrooms, the increased traffic, all the new developements, the half-filled strip malls?
I said it wasn’t the commissioners, they have changed over the years, the problems have not. If it isn’t the commissioners it must be the way the county government is set up. I do not think sitting on some citizens board without any legal power is nothing more than a feel good gesture and an ego boost for some.
I realize that change is scary, pretend I didn’t say anything.
By Lea
April 28, 2007 3:16 PM | Link to this
By any chance are you a shut-in Bruce? Just wondering - apparently you either don’t get out and around very much (meaning - involved and hands-on), or you aren’t bright enough to leave. If you’re that miserable, how pitiful you are to wallow in your own bitterness and scorn others that get up and try. I agree - things are looking up in Gwinnett, so there.
By Rosie
April 28, 2007 3:18 PM | Link to this
Good timing, Lea - I was going to add that the citizen board that I’m on does in fact have limited but in fact legally binding powers - yes, he needs to wake up and get out more. Just for fun, every heard of a jury - all citizens!
By Sam
April 28, 2007 3:25 PM | Link to this
No, change isn’t scary, especially when you have worked so hard for it for so long. Glad that people with clues have been involved - still haven’t heard any actual ideas from the likes of Bruce, though - just the usual griping.
By Jim
April 28, 2007 3:56 PM | Link to this
Bruce,
You’re right - it is how the government is set up - but it’s the state gov’t, not the Gwinnett Board of Commissioners. It is a pretty well known fact that the Ga constitution is very much pro-property rights. So, if you want to start somewhere, start with the state. Heck, many counties in the state don’t even have zoning regulations!
Oh, and if you just moved here in ‘93 -you’re part of the problem.
The growth patterns started long before ‘93. Your house was once part of someone’s farm. And neighbors protested when your subdivision was built. Now you’re complaining about new folks coming in? Who exactly gets to say when the last person is allowed to move in?
While Wayne Hill isn’t my favorite person, he did have one great saying - ‘Ya know, we didn’t invite ya’ll here.’
By Bruce Wilcox
April 28, 2007 10:35 PM | Link to this
That is what I really like about the South, the personal attacks. I asked several very simple, easy to answer questions, no responses, only insults?
I do not know where I may have ever gotten the idea that people were fed up with the growth, the increased traffic, the overloaded schools, oh wait, the past several elections may have given me that false impression.
As far as not offering up any suggestions or ideas as Sam accuses, does anybody here ever read more than the post above the area for comments?
And yes Jim I started the problem in 93’, the house was built in the late 70’s, but hey why let facts get in the way.
And ladies since it seems you’re so interested in how I spend my time each comment has the time and date, one or two comments from me a day can keep you folks whining for days.
A suggestion for y’all, tomorrow is Sunday take your time and read all he comments again slowly, take breaks if need be, then if you understand it, maybe an intelligent discussion could take place.