<p>One week after a federal court overturned Georgias legislative redistricting maps, proposed changes were floated in both chambers Tuesday.</p><p>In the Senate, majority Republicans produced a plan that would force some incumbent Senate Democrats into districts with each other and hand others considerably more Republican-leaning turf to defend.</p><p>The Democrat-controlled House produced a much less drastic revision for its members. Designers said it would protect most incumbents and appears likely to maintain the chambers current political makeup.</p><p>Last week, a three-judge federal panel overturned Georgias redistricting plans for the state House and Senate, saying Democrats who drew them when they controlled the Legislature violated the principle of one person, one vote.</p><p>They gave the legislature until March 1 to draw their own maps. If lawmakers fail to do so, the court may draw maps for them.</p><p>Attorney General Thurbert Baker, a Democrat, is expected to ask the panel Thursday to stay the decision _ allowing current districts to be used in this years elections.</p><p>Members of the GOP-dominated Senates leadership contend their plan is more fair than one approved by a Democratic majority two years ago, splitting fewer counties and creating smaller population differences from one district to the next.</p><p>A Senate committee will consider the plan Wednesday.</p><p>Sen. Tom Price, R-Roswell, the Redistricting committees chairman, said the plan splits 35 counties, compared to 82 on the current map, and less than 40 voting precincts, down from 212.</p><p>The population difference among the 56 districts is less than one percent, he said, compared to a map that now has deviations of almost 10 percent from the smallest to largest.</p><p>Democrats in the Senate complained they were targeted by the map.</p><p>Longtime lawmaker Sen. Rene Kemp, D-Hinesville, was drawn into the same Republican-leaning district with President Pro-tem Eric Johnson, R-Savannah.</p><p>I dont have a district to run in, said Kemp, the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.</p><p>Two DeKalb County Democrats _ Sen. David Adelman and Sen. Liane Levetan _ were drawn into the same district.</p><p>Some rural Democrats saw their districts altered to include more Republican-leaning voters _ a move they say appears intentional on the part of Republican leaders.</p><p>Theres no question thats what theyre doing, said Sen. Carol Jackson, D-Cleveland, whose northeast Georgia district would dip south to take in GOP-leaning Dawson County. They are smiling smugly.</p><p>Price said some of the districts that are home to more than one incumbent were errors and that his committee will try to change them.</p><p>That was not intentional, said Price.</p><p>Democrats said several challengers were drawn out of their districts. Among them was Charles Walker, the senates former majority leader who was defeated in 2002.</p><p>Walker intends to run for the Augusta-based seat now held by Republican Sen. Randy Hall, but the proposed map includes another district that darts into Augusta to include Walkers home.</p><p>Its dirty politics, Walker said. I certainly hope that it will not stand, but they can put me in any district they want to_ I have a trailer hitch on my car and I will be in the 22nd District regardless of where they draw the line.</p><p>The House plan was drawn by the director of the Legislatures redistricting branch, Linda Meggers, who said there was relatively little political input from members of either party.</p><p>The overall range of population from the largest to smallest districts is 8.5 percent _ down from 9.98 on the Houses current map.</p><p>However, she said the majority of the seats are within one percent of each other.</p><p>The plan moves one more seat from south Georgia, making a total of eight House seats lost there since the 2000 Census showed dwindling population in the once politically-dominant region.</p><p>It also pits two pairs of incumbents against each other _ Rep. Chuck Sims, D-Douglas, and Rep. Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla in south Georgia and Republicans Jill Chambers, of Atlanta, and Fran Millar, of Dunwoody.</p><p>Rep. Bob Hanner, D-Parrott, said no one liked having to make changes, but that members understood the need to comply with the court order.</p><p>Rep. Glenn Richardson, R-Dallas, the House Republican leader, complained that the plan maintains a large population deviation and still includes multi-member districts, which Republicans oppose but the court did not condemn.</p><p>I dont think they read the same court order I read, Richardson said.</p>
