Post by ifayomi on Jan 7, 2007 15:19:28 GMT -5
Republican seeks to strip Mckinney's name off highway
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Strip McKinney's name off road, lawmaker says
www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...inney_web.html
By JEREMY REDMON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/18/06
A Republican state lawmaker is seeking to strip U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney's name off a DeKalb County road, saying she "has brought embarrassment to the state of Georgia."
State Rep. Len Walker's resolution would switch Cynthia McKinney Parkway back its original name — Memorial Drive — partly to honor victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Her tenure in Congress has been marked by controversies and rhetoric that has brought embarrassment to the state of Georgia," said Walker on Monday. The lawmaker is a United Methodist minister who represents parts of Walton and Gwinnett counties.
Walker specifically cited an incident from March when the Democratic congresswoman allegedly struck a Capitol Hill police officer. (A grand jury declined to indict McKinney for the run-in.) Walker also called McKinney's recent bill to impeach President Bush "another example of the congresswoman's outrageous behavior."
McKinney's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. McKinney lost in a contentious Democratic primary runoff for her seat this summer to Hank Johnson, a former DeKalb County commissioner.
McKinney's former campaign manager, John Evans, called Walker's resolution a "mess."
"I would not support that mess no kind of way. Never. I don't care what his reasons are," Evans said.
And as for Walker's claim that McKinney has caused embarrassment to Georgia, Evans said: "He must be talking about white folks or uppity black folks."
In introducing his resolution Friday, Walker is seeking to undo a name change the General Assembly approved in 2000.
That year, state Sen. Gloria S. Butler (D-Stone Mountain) successfully proposed renaming Memorial Drive – from Candler Road in Decatur to U.S. Highway 78 in DeKalb County — to Cynthia McKinney Parkway. Butler said McKinney deserved the honor because she secured $14 million in federal funding for DeKalb to upgrade Memorial Drive.
Butler said Walker should butt out.
"First of all, that is not his district," said Butler, who is chairman of DeKalb's delegation to the state Senate. "I would like to tell Len Walker to take care of business in his district and to stay out of other people's districts."
Walker predicted Butler's opposition yesterday. He said what happens in DeKalb can reflect on the entire state of Georgia.
"Where I come from, we don't name roads for people like Cynthia McKinney," Walker said. "No district is an island. We are all in this together."
Aside from Butler, Walker's resolution has another hurdle. Walker said Senate and House transportation committee rules prohibit members from seeking to rename roads unless they live in the districts where the roads are located. He doesn't predict he will get a member of the DeKalb delegation to sign his resolution as a cosponsor, so he is planning to ask the committee chairmen for a wavier to their rules.
__________________
"CONFIDENCE, CONVICTION, AND ACTION WILL CAUSE US TO BE FREE MEN TODAY" HON. MARCUS GARVEY
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Strip McKinney's name off road, lawmaker says
www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...inney_web.html
By JEREMY REDMON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/18/06
A Republican state lawmaker is seeking to strip U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney's name off a DeKalb County road, saying she "has brought embarrassment to the state of Georgia."
State Rep. Len Walker's resolution would switch Cynthia McKinney Parkway back its original name — Memorial Drive — partly to honor victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Her tenure in Congress has been marked by controversies and rhetoric that has brought embarrassment to the state of Georgia," said Walker on Monday. The lawmaker is a United Methodist minister who represents parts of Walton and Gwinnett counties.
Walker specifically cited an incident from March when the Democratic congresswoman allegedly struck a Capitol Hill police officer. (A grand jury declined to indict McKinney for the run-in.) Walker also called McKinney's recent bill to impeach President Bush "another example of the congresswoman's outrageous behavior."
McKinney's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. McKinney lost in a contentious Democratic primary runoff for her seat this summer to Hank Johnson, a former DeKalb County commissioner.
McKinney's former campaign manager, John Evans, called Walker's resolution a "mess."
"I would not support that mess no kind of way. Never. I don't care what his reasons are," Evans said.
And as for Walker's claim that McKinney has caused embarrassment to Georgia, Evans said: "He must be talking about white folks or uppity black folks."
In introducing his resolution Friday, Walker is seeking to undo a name change the General Assembly approved in 2000.
That year, state Sen. Gloria S. Butler (D-Stone Mountain) successfully proposed renaming Memorial Drive – from Candler Road in Decatur to U.S. Highway 78 in DeKalb County — to Cynthia McKinney Parkway. Butler said McKinney deserved the honor because she secured $14 million in federal funding for DeKalb to upgrade Memorial Drive.
Butler said Walker should butt out.
"First of all, that is not his district," said Butler, who is chairman of DeKalb's delegation to the state Senate. "I would like to tell Len Walker to take care of business in his district and to stay out of other people's districts."
Walker predicted Butler's opposition yesterday. He said what happens in DeKalb can reflect on the entire state of Georgia.
"Where I come from, we don't name roads for people like Cynthia McKinney," Walker said. "No district is an island. We are all in this together."
Aside from Butler, Walker's resolution has another hurdle. Walker said Senate and House transportation committee rules prohibit members from seeking to rename roads unless they live in the districts where the roads are located. He doesn't predict he will get a member of the DeKalb delegation to sign his resolution as a cosponsor, so he is planning to ask the committee chairmen for a wavier to their rules.
__________________
"CONFIDENCE, CONVICTION, AND ACTION WILL CAUSE US TO BE FREE MEN TODAY" HON. MARCUS GARVEY