Cobb commissioners OK redistricting resolution in split vote

In a strict partisan vote, the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved the first of two votes Tuesday to take an unprecedented step at invoking home rule powers over redistricting.

The board’s three-member Democratic majority voted to approve a resolution that would redraw the four commission districts according to a map accepted by the Cobb legislative delegation.

That map, which was not voted on by the Georgia legislature this year, would have kept current District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson in her district, which includes some of East Cobb as well as the Cumberland-Vinings area.

The two Republican commissioners voted against the resolution, saying it’s a violation of the Georgia Constitution for local governments to conduct reapportionment, which is a task of the legislature.

Another vote has been scheduled for Oct. 25 before the resolution would be sent to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, but a lawsuit by the state is expected in response and the matter will likely be resolved in the courts.

“We begin to make history with this vote,” Richardson said.

A map approved by the Republican-dominated legislature redrew Richardson, a Democrat in her first term, out of the East Cobb home off Post Oak Tritt Road that she moved into last year.

She would have to move into the newly redrawn District 2 by Dec. 31 in order to keep her seat. Her term expires at the end of 2024, but she has said since the legislative session that she will “not step down.”

Before Tuesday’s vote, she reiterated previous public remarks that the legislature’s action to draw a sitting commissioner out of office during a term is unprecedented, and needs to be challenged.

She said it’s the opinion of the county’s legal counsel that the Georgia Constitution allows for local governments to claim home rule powers.

That has not occurred with regards to redistricting. “That it has not been used in this manner does not mean it cannot be used in this manner,” Richardson said before the vote.

District 3 Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, a Republican whose new district includes most of East Cobb, said of the resolution that “this action is illegal” and goes against the state constitution.

She said she twice asked Cobb County Attorney William Rowling for a second opinion but noted that “this was not done,” then read from a letter by the state Office of Legislative Counsel questioning the constitutionality of the resolution.

Rowling responded that several times the language in that letter stated “it appears” and took issue with referenced federal redistricting cases.

“Federal cases do not speak to Georgia law,” he said. When Birrell asked him if home rule could apply to local redistricting in Cobb’s case, he said “Yes ma’am. I do think it’s undecided.”

Keli Gambrill of North Cobb, the other GOP commissioner, accused her Democratic colleagues of “playing politics over enforcing policy” in advancing the resolution in executive session.

She also said the “local courtesy” tradition of the legislature honoring county delegation maps isn’t law, and Cobb “has no legal authority to enact redistricting.”

Monique Sheffield, a first-term Democrat who represents South Cobb, said Richardson was elected for four years “and she should have the opportunity to do so.”

That was the sentiment of public speakers in support of the resolution. They included Jackie Bettadapur of East Cobb, who is the head of the Cobb Democratic Party. She didn’t identify herself as such, but said that Cobb’s Republican lawmakers who presented their own maps “went rogue” in getting them approved.

“This is voter nullification,” she said, adding that the GOP “is overturning 2020 election results.”

“State overreach into local government matters has got to stop,” Bettadapur said. “Give voice to our votes and honor the 2020 election results” that resulted in the first Democratic majority on the commission since the 1980s.

Pam Reardon of East Cobb, a Cobb Republican activist who also didn’t mention her party ties, countered by saying that the approved maps are the law and that “this lawsuit is going be a colossal waste of taxpayer funds.”

She said Richardson, who narrowly was elected in 2020 by roughly 1,200 votes over Republican Fitz Johnson, knew redistricting would occur and moved “all the way across District 2” into her new home.

Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid tried to move the vote up on the agenda to allow public speakers to have their say beforehand.

But she couldn’t get a majority, and after the vote, speakers on either side of the issue had their say.

They included East Cobb resident Judy Boyce, whose late husband, Mike Boyce, was the Republican chairman from 2017-2020.

She said she voted in the May primary with the new lines in effect, including District 3, in which Birrell is seeking a fourth term against Democrat Christine Triebsch.

The resolution doesn’t affect 2022 elections, but it could create chaos if it ultimately prevails, and Boyce urged commissioners not to vote for home rule.

“What happens to my vote?” she said, getting emotional. “What you did today nullifies my vote. I deserve to have my vote honored. How does this work now?

“I don’t think what you’ve done today is legal. It’s politically motivated.”

Related:

• Contested Post 4 seat on Cobb school board heats up
• Cobb 2022 general election sample ballot available
• Cobb to propose ordinance to redraw commission districts
• Cobb school board chairman trailing in campaign fundraising
• Cobb to add Sunday voting in 2022 general election
• East Cobb News Politics & Elections page

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