From yicim@worldnet.att.net Sun Jun 11 05:54:40 2000 From: Dot Smith Reply-To: "yicim@worldnet.att.net" To: "'usaoffice@cwis.org'" Subject: Baker Request Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 23:48:33 -0400 Organization: ICIM June 10, 2000 The Honorable Thurbert Baker Georgia Attorney General State Capital Building Atlanta, Georgia 30334 Sir: Citizens of Georgia shuddered when you dismissed School Superintendent Linda Schrenko's request for a ruling on subsidies for church-run school activities. Your reasoning confused the issue and left those who voted to put you in such a powerful position wondering what happened to your campaign pledges. Accepting requests for ruling from only department heads block citizen access to the courts, unless they can afford lawsuits. Presently, Georgians residing in DeKalb and Fulton Counties face such a prospect with GRTA and MARTA. This letter requests that you seek a ruling from Georgia's Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of the legislative act creating GRTA, the powers granted it and it's right to expropriate control of MARTA from DeKalb and Fulton. Expressing opinions to citizens are shocked and appalled after hearing Rep. Mike Snow (D-Chickamauga), vice chairman of the House Transportation Committee state, "Georgia's constitution prohibits the state from funding MARTA's operations and I can't foresee the state ever funding MARTA's operations." This revelation placed GRTA on very shaky constitutional grounds given MARTA was created by local referendum and GRTA consuming it as a regional transportation network. Gov. Roy Barnes has stacked MARTA's Board with state officials and supporters to insure MARTA accepts GRTA's hegemony. Moreover, the state has extended the MARTA one cent sales tax to 2047 in order to fund MARTA as a regional transportation hub. Not one of these changes ever came before the residents of DeKalb and Fulton Counties for a vote, even though we are the only citizens in Georgia who pay the MARTA sales tax. Fulton County Commission Chairman Mike Kenn plans to block a contract to extend MARTA rail service to areas which do not pay the MARTA tax. Kenn is protesting the way Gov. Barnes stepped in and forced MARTA to reroute the train scheduled for DeKalb County to Cobb and Douglas County lines. Flexing that kind of muscle without paying a penny to operate MARTA, the state is guilty of taxation without representation, because citizens in DeKalb and Fulton have no say about who is on MARTA's or GRTA's Board and how they spend our tax dollars. Following Kenn's lead, other counties are voicing opposition to GRTA's overall thrust regarding land use and zoning. They are worried Barnes will force his will on them as he has DeKalb and Fulton. A prime example is the demand for high density developments or counties will lose tax revenue. Also, those counties which fought becoming a part of MARTA for years are now organizing their own bus systems to get some of the federal transportation money coming to this region. If MARTA is to be the regional hub controlled by GRTA, will these counties' systems be consumed or allowed to operate independently. If allowed to operate independently, then the only reason the state took over MARTA is to get control of DeKalb and Fulton sales tax revenues and federal matching funds for public transportation. Not a local boy, Kenn was given a southern backhand by Rep. Snow, "I don't take kindly to Kenn's attempt to use the MARTA contract as leverage. The General Assembly is still controlled by rural Georgia." Snow is rallying Georgia rednecks for the Governor. These boys are suffering from their success in the early 1970s fighting to block MARTA. As a legislator, Roy Barnes led the anti-MARTA forces, which opposed state funding for the public transportation system. Snow threatened Kenn to keep him quiet, as they did back in the good old days, when the KKK burned crosses atop Stone Mountain to intimidate blacks. In other words, the Governor is trying to punk him out. Sir, when Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton County taxpayers voted yes to the referendum creating MARTA, we signed on to pay a one-cent sales tax for a limited number of years. We have fulfilled our obligation. For the state legislature to extend the length of that financial commitment, without a referendum, should be unconstitutional. We ask for an opinion. Furthermore, for GRTA to subsume MARTA and control it, when the state cannot fund MARTA operations is blatant taxation without representation, a situation that demands your immediate attention. Honorable Sir, we hope on this important contemporary issue you will at least dignify this request with a response. Our letter to you dated November 9, 1999 went unanswered, it asked that you investigate the lynching of WWII hero George Dorsey and wife May Murray , and Robert Malcolm and pregnant wife Dorothy in Walton County. Though these murders occurred more than fifty years ago, the victims' spirits still haunt this land in search of justice. You may have felt their case only affected black people, so it is unimportant. However, that one, as this one, will hang over your head forever. What if two or three years down the road and billions of dollars are wrongfully spent, GRTA is finally declared unconstitutional. Citizens will remember you refused to act on your watch. The Supreme Court will rule, if you ask. For a better Georgia, its citizens await your timely response. Respectfully, John Burl Smith cc: Bill Mosley, MARTA Chairman Liane Levetan, DeKalb CEO Chick Krautler, ARC Director Emily Lemcke, Chairman Cherokee County Commission Rita Rainwater, Chairman Douglas County Commission Rodney Slater, Secretary of Transportation Robert Benham, Chief Justice Georgia Supreme Court