Residency challenge looms over state House 142 race

Voters in part of Macon-Bibb County will send a new representative to the state Capitol in Atlanta to take the seat long held by Nikki Randall, who is not seeking re-election. Two well-known Democrats are in the race, while a hopeful third candidate is fighting a judge’s ruling that he’s not qualified to run.

Gerald Harvey and Miriam Paris, both veterans of the now-defunct Macon City Council, will meet on the May 24 ballot. Meanwhile, Frank Austin, a community organizer who has never run for office, is appealing a judge’s ruling that he has not lived in the district long enough to qualify as a candidate.

Harvey said he wants to bring unity to the team of eight lawmakers who represent Macon-Bibb in Atlanta and is focused on local issues right now.

“We kind of really need to look at unifying the delegation, get it a little bit more cooperative, working together,” said Harvey, who doesn’t want to see a repeat of what he called the “friction” in the 2016 session.

This year, Macon-Bibb’s House Democrats urged their county Republican colleagues to review some of the mayor’s firing and appointment powers, and also consider moving nonpartisan local elections to November. Legal opinions differ on whether the elections could have been rescheduled, but without GOP support, there’s little chance of any of the Democratic proposals gaining traction.

Harvey said he would like to see elections moved to November, and he thinks the mayor has too much power when it comes to firing top staff and making appointments to boards.

It is difficult for Democrats to move bills in the Republican-dominated Capitol. Harvey said his strategy is to keep members of the public informed so they will have a chance to express their opinions.

As for statewide issues, Harvey said Georgia needs a higher minimum wage and raises for teachers. The state budget for the next fiscal year includes money that Gov. Nathan Deal has said he wants spent on teacher raises, but some school systems including Bibb’s, may spend the money elsewhere.

Paris hopes this election will return her to the Gold Dome. The former state senator said her platform is stronger families and stronger communities.

Good teacher pay should be a priority, she said.

“If we’re not making sure we’ve got teachers that are satisfied in their profession, that they don’t have to start looking elsewhere to make ends meet, then we’ve accomplished something,” she said.

She also said it’s important to attract jobs to Macon-Bibb and said she would stand up for the county in Atlanta.

Paris said she has been watching several religious expression bills in the Legislature, including some that aim to give faith-based groups the right to refuse to do business with gay Georgians. She sees the bills as an attack on equality.

“We can’t afford to go down that road,” Paris said. “I’m against discrimination on every level.”

She said her strategy for accomplishing her goals in a GOP-dominated Legislature is to focus on building common ground.

“If you keep building on that, the next thing you know the differences have really gotten to the sidelines,” she said. “You might kind of like each other. ”

The issue of Macon-Bibb consolidation has plenty of critics, but Paris, who was in the Legislature when it passed, defends it.

“We saved hundreds of dollars for our city people” when city property taxes got cut after the merge, she said.

She said it’s possible there needs to be some tweaks to how Macon-Bibb government is run, and she’s open to studying them.

The unknown in the race is Austin, the director of the Austin Center for Community Development and coordinator of the Shalom Zone program, which aims to help people organize and plan ways to improve their neighborhoods.

The cloud over Austin’s campaign is that an administrative law judge ruled that he has not lived in House District 142 long enough to qualify to run for office there. According to the ruling, Austin’s house was without water service for most of the time he is claiming residency, and he only recently updated his voter registration and driver’s license address to match.

Austin said he is planning an appeal, but he declined to talk about specifics in the ruling, saying he is in discussions with an attorney. The appeal is due by April 30, and Harvey and Paris have declined comment on the issue.

As a candidate, Austin said he would like to focus on three issues: education, crime and economic development.

“For the last four years, that’s what I’ve been working on from the ground,” he said.

Austin said the graduation rate needs to rise and young people need to come out of high school with skills that can earn them a good wage. He said he thinks a key way to reduce crime is to replicate what he has done as a community organizer: setting up neighborhood-level collaboration among community groups, the government and individuals to meet each area’s challenges.

The winner of the Democrat primary will go to Atlanta in January. There is no Republican in the race.

House District 142

Frank Austin

Age: 42

Occupation: Community activist

Political experience: none

Gerald Harvey

Age: 66

Occupation: retired

Political experience: Macon City Council 1979 - 1987

Miriam Paris

Age: 55

Occupation: Realtor

Political experience: Macon City Council 2006 - 2011, state Senate 2011 - 2012

This story was originally published April 22, 2016 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Residency challenge looms over state House 142 race."