'I'm Just Disgusted At This Chamber': GA House Committee Approves Cobb Redistricting Maps

COBB COUNTY, GA — Cobb County's controversial redistricting maps for both the county commission and school board would cost one commissioner her seat and the maps prompted charges of racism and a shouting match at the state capitol.

Democratic representatives say the new maps — passed on Wednesday by a Republican-controlled House of Representatives committee — are drawn along racial and political lines. Critics said the maps pack most people of color and Democratic voters into the same districts, diluting the minority voting power in a county where the population is roughly half white and half racial minorities.

However, Republican members say the boundaries didn't come from racial or political lines, but rather from the population growth in Cobb County over the last decade. Some say the maps follow a breakdown of dividing the county into easily-definable segments: east, southwest, northwest and central (along the Interstate 75 corridor).

The county commission map could also potentially force a sitting commissioner representing East Cobb out of her seat two years before her term expires.

District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson — whose 2020 election win flipped the county commission majority to Democrats and whose term doesn't expire until 2024 — would then be drawn out of her East Cobb district. She would have to move if the bill is approved or be forced out of the county commission under county law.

"They couldn't beat her at the polls, so they're resorting to this to take her down," Jackie Bettadapur, chair of the Cobb County Democratic Party, told Patch. "She's a young, educated, professional Black woman. They just don't like the results of the 2020 election, so they're cracking her district and packing her into this bogus district they're calling a 'central transportation corridor.'"

Richardson lived in the Cumberland area until last summer, when she moved into a new home off Post Oak Tritt Road, East Cobb News reported.

The maps now head to the Rules Committee, then the full state House floor for a vote.

Read more: Lawmakers Get Into Heated Debate Over Cobb Redistricting Maps

Redistricting happens every 10 years after each decennial U.S. Census, in which voting maps across the state and country are evaluated and district boundaries are redrawn.

In Georgia, local redistricting maps are typically drawn by the local legislative delegation, and then go through the House's Intragovernmental Coordination Committee.

But Republican legislators in both Cobb and Gwinnett counties have filed those maps through the Governmental Affairs Committee, allowing them to advance without the majority support of the county's delegation, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.

Poy Winichakul, staff attorney for Voting Rights with the Southern Poverty Law Center, called the move a "brazen attack on Gwinnett and Cobb local governments" that elevate a white majority, despite a rising population of people of color in both counties.

"These anti-voter politicians are 'cracking' communities of color across multiple districts or 'packing' people of color into fewer districts, so they are denied equal representation to advocate for how resources are allocated, and communities are governed.

“State legislators have now passed a map for the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners that denies communities of color their fair share of districts. Not satisfied with that, the legislature is currently considering maps for the Cobb County School Board and Board of Commissioners that would similarly diminish the political power of communities of color," she said in a statement.

State Rep. John Carson, R-northeast Cobb, proposed the Board of Commissioners' district maps, while state Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R-west Cobb, proposed the one for the Board of Education.

In Carson's proposed map, most of East Cobb would be drawn into District 3, represented by Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, instead of split between Districts 2 and 3. District 2 would instead include the I-75 corridor from Kennesaw through Marietta and retain a majority of the Smyrna-Vinings area.

Additionally, state Rep. Erick Allen, D-Smyrna, drafted his own map for the county commission, which was endorsed by the commission's Democratic majority last month.

Carson said he did not know the commissioners' home addresses when he proposed the map, and says he did not target Richardson specifically, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Tensions came to a head during the committee hearing, particularly between Rep. David Wilkerson, D-Powder Springs, and Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville, who chairs the Governmental Affairs Committee, according to the MDJ.

At the beginning of the committee meeting, Taylor said public comment wouldn't be allowed. Wilkerson said he was "a duly-elected state representative," not the general public, and she told him to step to the podium.

"After your comments on Monday, we were encouraged when you said, 'Go work this out.' We did not work it out. We offered ... and we were shown the door," Wilkerson said. "Right now, I'm just disgusted at this chamber. Disgusted."

Taylor interjected, telling him to "be very, very careful" with his words, and Wilkerson continued talking. She interjected again, saying, "No, you're going to listen to me."

Wilkerson responded by saying "No, I'm not going to listen to you because I'm tired of you talking down to me."

Taylor then cut off Wilkerson's mic. But he kept talking, eventually saying, "All we're asking is that we get the same respect you white members get."

Audible laughter ensues on the committee hearing video from Taylor. She told him security was on the way, but Wilkerson was already in his seat when they arrived.

You can view the full committee hearing on YouTube.

Some Republicans said they were disappointed in Wilkerson's comments, saying the proposed county commission map would still keep the Democratic majority and it was never about race.

Additionally, Richardson would also still have a chance to represent District 2 — she would just have to move into the new District 2 when the map would take effect in January 2023, Carson told the MDJ.

Meanwhile, the new school board map would shift Post 6, including the Walton and Wheeler clusters, into the Smyrna-Vinings-Cumberland area.

This would reduce East Cobb representation to one board member: Republican David Banks of Post 5 and vice chairman of the board. Democrat Charisse Davis of Post 6 would be drawn into the same district as Jaha Howard, another Democrat representing the Smyrna area of Post 2.

Howard is not seeking re-election on the Cobb school board, and will instead run for state school superintendent.

However, some supporters of the maps said the new versions reflect the county's makeup more appropriately, and accused some legislators of "talking out of both sides of their mouth."

"Someone came up a moment ago and said, 'Erick Allen's map got voted on by a 3-2 vote of the county commission, therefore that makes it legitimate.' Well, the map that. ... Rep. Ehrhart's presenting was voted on 4-3 by our school board, but that's now being attacked as being illegitimate," state Rep. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, said at a hearing earlier this week. "People can't have it both ways."

If the maps are passed by the full House, Senate and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, Bettadapur and others predict a lawsuit will be filed. In the last two redistricting processes, courts have thrown out the Cobb commission maps approved by the legislature for conflicting with voting rights laws, the AJC reported.

Related:

• Reapportionment Maps To Be Revealed At Cobb School Board Meeting
• Cobb Law Firm Tapped To Redraw Cobb's School District Maps
• Cobb School Board Member To Run For Georgia School Superintendent