Posted on 04/14/2003 6:58:46 AM PDT by Between the Lines
An uncivil war has erupted in the state Democratic Party over Gov. Sonny Perdue's proposed referendum on the state flag, a family feud that could be a boon for Republicans.
Conservative white Democrats parted from black lawmakers on the high-profile state flag vote last week, splitting the black-white alliance that in recent decades has formed Democrats' power base in Georgia and other Southern states.
"We asked a lot of our white Democratic colleagues if they could help us on the flag vote and they said, 'No, we've got to worry about the people back home,' " said state Rep. Barbara Mobley (D-Decatur). "We've looked it up, and a lot of them are in strong African-American districts.
"We are putting them on notice."
Mobley was one of the black members of the state House who addressed the chamber last week as lawmakers voted 111-67 for a new state flag. If voters fail to approve that banner, which closely resembles the pre-1956 state flag, they would then have an opportunity to vote to return the state to the post-1956 flag. All three flags incorporate a Confederate banner, which many blacks find offensive.
"It has the potential of really hurting the state Democratic Party," said Emory University political scientist Merle Black. "It underscores a party where a strong urban-rural split is paralleled by a racial split."
The black-white Democratic coalition has always been a "high-maintenance alliance," Black said. Volatile issues like the state flag can create new fractures that are difficult to overcome, especially in a state trending Republican, he said. Republicans control the congressional delegation, the governor's office and the state Senate. Democrats still control the state House.
Tuesday night, conservative white Democrats in the House, under pressure from their rural constituents who back the flag referendum, sided with Republicans to pass the measure despite the pleas of their black colleagues during an emotional six-hour debate.
There were 106 Democrats who voted. All 39 black Democrats voted no. And 26 white Democrats also voted no, virtually all of them from metro Atlanta.
But 41 white Democrats voted yes -- almost all from small towns or rural Georgia. And 69 of the 71 Republicans who voted -- none of them black -- voted also yes.
For white lawmakers from rural Georgia, like House Majority Leader Jimmy Skipper (D-Americus) and Speaker Terry Coleman (D-Eastman), the split is a no-win situation.
"We'd like to see it solved so that it pleases everybody, but that's not in the cards right now," Coleman said. "Some people will feel hurt a long time about this, whatever happens."
Rural white Democrats depend on support from blacks and whites -- constituencies on opposite sides of the flag issue. There's no middle ground.
"That kind of rural politician just wants to avoid the issue," said Michael Binford, a political scientist at Georgia State University. "They can't win no matter what they do."
Blacks blame both Skipper, who voted for the flag referendum, and Coleman, who as speaker does not vote but allowed it to come up for a vote.
"I think the white Democrats are giving the governor exactly what he wants," said Rep. Douglas Dean (D-Atlanta), an African-American. "You might as well just say the Republicans run the state."
Jo Ann McClinton (D-Atlanta) wore a large black ribbon on her lapel Friday to "mourn" the Democratic breakdown on the flag vote. "The Democratic leadership has deserted those of us of color in the state," she said.
Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus), an African-American who chairs the state Democratic Party, planned to spend the weekend trying to bring the two sides together. Smyre said he has scheduled meetings between some of the 38 black House members and white House leaders.
"Right now there is a lot of frustration and people are on edge," Smyre said. "My job is now to bring some closure."
In political parlance, the flag controversy is called a "wedge" issue because it divides a normally cohesive political alliance.
Rep. Tom Bordeaux (D-Savannah) said Republicans are using the flag issue for long-term political gains. "I originally thought the governor stumbled into the election and has fumbled his way through this session," said Bordeaux, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. "But I've come to believe his purpose . . . is to drive a wedge . . . through different arms of the Democratic Party."
Bordeaux, one of the two dozen white lawmakers to side with blacks on the flag vote, said the strategy is effective. "It splits the state politically, racially, philosophically into a thousand splinters," he said. "Who's ultimately the victor? The Republicans. But at what price?"
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Maybe some of these Georgia boys can borrow some of the sacred robes from Kleagle Byrd and get these folks back in line.
"Yes maam, I'm sorry your son was gunned down in a drive-by shooting and your daughter is pregnant and can't pass 9th grade but I promise to fix that flag problem that has been making your life a living Hell". Irony is certainly ironic.
WOW. What a visionary! As true today as it was then.
I don't know much about Georgia politics, but I can tell you that there is a growing split between the mindsets of hyper-urban areas from that of rural areas.
So it wouldn't surprise me to see this so-called "wedge" issue, which is nominally about a cloth flag design, to really be more about a backlash in rural and sub-urban areas to a power-play from Atlanta politicians that just about took over the entire state system.
But then again, that's just my guess. Who knows, people really might be willing to press an issue so hard that it breaks all of their political power, simply because they prefer one cloth flag design over another...
I mean, why solve the states' problems when you can cast slings and arrows at each other instead?
If the GA legislature's way of "solving problems" is similar to the way the "solved" the GA lending industry, I'd rather they were distracted from passing more laws with the flag issue.
There's less harm inflicted on normal Georgians with this approach...
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