By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
APRIL 5, 2019 | It was one of the most perplexing turns of the recent Georgia General Assembly.
Out of nowhere, the six member Gwinnett House Republican delegation, near the end of the session, issued a press release saying that they were amending legislation to limit Gwinnett County from voting on another transit plan before 2026…..eight years away.
Note that this only came from members of the Republican House delegation. The Republicans in the Senate had no comment on it. The majority Democratic delegation (12 members) in the House was not consulted before the bombshell was dropped as an amendment to another bill before the House.
But why did the minority Republicans propose this?
And why did the delegation want to delay any such vote until 2026? The way Gwinnett is growing, the county could have another 125,000-150,000 people by then. Getting around in Gwinnett will be more of a problem then than now if something is not done to make maneuvering better.
Happily, statewide Republicans eliminated this nefarious proposal out of the bill, probably shaking their heads and wondering, “What is it with the Republican House members from Gwinnett? What’s in their craw?”
Efstration
The ranking Republican, Rep. Chuck Efstration, was the spokesman for the delegation. He might have wondered later if he should have brought it up, from the rancor it caused.
The other five members of the Republican delegation can take no pride in being part of this shenanigan. That would include Brett Harrell of Snellville, Timothy Barr of Dacula, Tom Kirby of Loganville; David Clark of Buford and Bonnie Rich of Duluth. We’re particularly disappointed that the delegation sucked in a new legislator, Bonnie Rich, into this end run.
Another questionable element in this puzzle: usually the county commissioners, as the people elected to govern the entire county and to guide it, make requests to the legislators to propose legislation that the commissioners feel they need enacted. Why is it that all of a sudden, the legislators are moving to limit what the county and its leaders can do? Seems this put the shoe on the wrong foot.
Quoting Efstration: “It would simply provide for a cooling off period so the will of the voters is respected. It’s important that we respect the message that was sent by voters on March 19. And calling a series of votes until a desired outcome is reached is not respecting the message that the voters sent.”
An eight year cooling off period seems excessive.
For Rep. Efstration to say that the March election results are not respecting the voters, when only 16.7 percent of those registered actually voted, is something else entirely.
We see that results with such a low turnout as the “Tyranny of the minority.”
As we said earlier, all this is quite perplexing in trying to reason matters out.
We urge the county commissioners to disregard the House maneuver, and prepare the electorate to vote on transit solutions in the November 2020 elections, and move Gwinnett forward.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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