When a state legislator filed a bill last month to expand Gwinnett County's Board of Commissioners, he touted its potential to add diversity to a body that's never had a non-white member.
But at least two local advocacy groups think the plan would do exactly the opposite.
Rep. Pedro Marin, a Democrat from Duluth, filed on March 9 a bill that would change the shape of the county's four current commission districts while adding two new ones. The proposal was not voted on and will roll over to the General Assembly's 2018 session.
The most vocal detractors of the bill have questioned the way the proposed new commission districts are drawn. But the legislator balked at that, saying the map is not "set in stone" and would create "some competitive districts" even if it was.
Jerry Gonzalez, director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, isn’t sold.
“This proposal would be retrogression,” he said. “It effectively dilutes minority representation in every conceivable way.”
