About That Cobb Delegation Meeting Yesterday
In suburban Atlanta, one of the big stories that came out of the 2018 election cycle was the transition of the legislative delegations from three metro counties – Cobb, Fulton, and Gwinnett – from a Republican to a Democrat majority. In preparation for this Session’s first meeting of the Cobb legislative delegation yesterday, House and Senate Dems agreed on the slate of nominees for the delegation’s leadership.
It didn’t quite work out the way we’d planned. From the AJC:
At the top of [the Democrats’] list for chair was State Rep. David Wilkerson. But just after his nomination, Republicans put forward their own candidate: Democratic State Sen. Michael Rhett.
Jordan accused Rhett of cutting a “side deal” with Republicans to “circumvent the slate that had been decided by the Democrats.”
She said the walkout was intended to buy time while the Democrats regroup to decide their next step.
“It took everybody by surprise,” Jordan said. “It just seems like such a naked attempt to keep power” by Republicans.
Clearly, this was a calculated move upon Tippins’ part. He’s a politician and as such, I suppose such behavior is not entirely unexpected – but it is anathema to how the Cobb delegation has proceeded in the past. That is – the minority party respected the wishes of the majority party.
And that is what is so profoundly disappointing about yesterday: utter disregard for how things have always proceeded within the delegation.
The political reality is that Cobb has changed. Cobb’s blue shift when Hillary Clinton won the county in 2016 was not a fluke, and the 2018 elections confirmed that Cobb is majority Democrat. For years, Democrats in Cobb County respected that there was a Republican majority in Cobb, and that was reflected in our votes for our delegation’s leadership. I do not think it is too great an expectation for our Republican colleagues in the delegation to behave commensurately.
There is talk about dividing the delegation between the House and the Senate (this is the case in several other counties). However, in the spirit of our legacy of bipartisan collaboration in Cobb, is my hope that both the House and Senate will continue to work together to represent Cobb County in the General Assembly as a bicameral delegation.
About Author
Teri
Teri Anulewicz is a Democrat who represents House District 42 in the Georgia General Assembly. She previously spent nearly a decade on the Smyrna City Council. A native New Orleanian and quasi-Texan, Teri graduated from Agnes Scott College in 1998. She's been a front page contributor since 2015, and she compiles each Tuesday's Morning Reads.
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Sad. I guess y’all need to play hardball. Unfortunate but necessary.
No prisoners.
I’m really surprised that you’re surprised. This is straight out of the republican play book. Every single time republicans lose power they begin by offering one attempt after another to disenfranchise the demographic groups that didn’t vote for them.
The second thing they do is change the rules (see Michigan, NC, Florida, Kansas, Tennessee or Wisconsin) You better wake up and realize this is just the opening gambit. Once the Superbowl is over the republicans will introduce all types of radical legislation to put a gun in every place in Georgia except the capitol with no registration. They will start to introduce all manner of disenfranchisement legislation to make sure that Kemp, Perdue and Trump can win Georgia even if the majority of the electorate vote against them.
Democrat elected officials don’t understand how to play hardball and that’s why you keep losing statewide. Here’s what you need to do:
1) Micheal Rhett must lose his seat and he has to be told he’ll will face a well funded primary opponent.
2) You’ve got to start raising awareness and money on this singular slight. Start as soon as the legislative session is over. And, you got to attack Rhett relentlessly, he is a traitor.
3) Expect that the legislature will ignore your will on local legislation, just as they did in Stockbridge/Eagle Landings. This is war and you’ve got to stop acting like there is goodwill in the legislature. Resist at every turn and highlight the resistance to your base. Its larger than the base of the republican party but we don’t know why we should turn out for you. You can’t simply rely on a visceral dislike for Trump to drive your turnout. Fight for some thing that will drive your base to vote for you and not just against Trump.
We’re gonna build a dam (on the Hooch) and Alabama, Tennessee and Florida are gonna pay for it!
This is a war for America!
God forbid there be 2 candidates for the delegation Chair. Are you implying that Rhett is a stooge? No matter, he’ll be labeled an Uncle Tom or House Negro in the primary.
The only thing I agree with you is that I’m surprised that the D’s were so surprised. The tantrum and walking out on the meeting didn’t surprise me one bit though. Why so scared of a vote right then and there? Ha
If this is such a good idea and a magnaninous gesture on the part of the republicans why didn’t they do it in 2014 when he was first elected? If they had, I wouldn’t be so cynical. This is a raw power play. Again, even if the democrats gain control of the delegation, the legislature will simply ignore the will of the local delegation and impose whatever outcome they want. There is already precedent for this.
Given the foolishness of the East Cobb cityhood chatter that is going around, I would think this is just one of MANY power plays to come from the GOP side. While I would never go as far as some of Gregs points, I do think Cobb Dems need to be prepared to play hardball. GOP is not operating from a place of fairness or normal tradition. They want to hold on to power by any means necessary.
I’m on the fence with the East Cobb city movement. Although I’m not a fan of my Cobb representation, Ron Fennel is useless as a city council member. Having a government that’s closer to the people is pointless if your council member is indifferent.
Maybe I am being overly cynical, but it feels like, ya know, “I want to live near Atlanta (with the jobs etc that that brings), but not in Atlanta, and I want to reap the benefits of Cobb County, but not have to participate in whatever is going on on the other side of Piedmont Rd.
I mean, just move to St. Simons Island already!
You may be cynical but it doesn’t change the fact that the Democrats, other than Stacey Abrams, refuse to bring the fight to the republicans in the face of rank abuse. We just got a new committee chairman who is a klan sympathizer. Why? Because all good klan sympathizers deserve and second and a third and a fourth and a fifth chance. You know, we’ve adopted the good people on both sides mantra of Trump now. Did you hear a peep from the Democrats?
The party has to stand for something and not just against things. Where is the fight and why are they still getting surprised by republican tactics in the era of Trump? In order for Democrats to win they’ve gotta get off the block and start playing power politics. Any Democrat Senator who would get involved with a plot like this needs a well funded primary opponent and I hope the state party has already begun to do this.
Howard Schultz maybe right, we need a political party who is fighting for all the American people and not just to remain in power regardless of the will of the governed.
When GOP is in power, they call for bi-partisanship and centrist Dems bend. When centrist Dems are in power, GOP pull out all the tricks and centrist Dems shrug. Centrist Dems never learn or they exist to lose embarrassingly..