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The end of the McKinney Dynasty
by Steve Taylor

"Times are a changin'" in Georgia politics. Thirty-year political veteran Billy McKinney and his daughter Cynthia, a five-term U.S. Congresswoman, were recently defeated by newcomers to the political scene. After the dust settled from their dual political defeat, only months apart, Billy and Cynthia McKinney must have scratched their heads and wondered what went wrong.

Almost immediately, the finger-pointing began as the two attempted to seek answers for the surprise upsets. In fact, supporters of Cynthia McKinney have even filed a lawsuit trying to overturn the primary election based upon their belief that crossover Republican voters led to Cynthia's defeat in the August 20 Democratic primary. What those supporters fail to fully appreciate is that Georgia law permits an open primary with crossover voting. They, or possibly McKinney herself, are maybe unhappy with the results of the election and are seeking to reverse the apparent wishes of the 4th Congressional District's constituents, but this is really contrary to the current law. Billy even claims he and his daughter were "targeted" and has publicly blamed their mutual defeats on a smear campaign orchestrated by Republicans.

As to the allegations that crossover Republicans stole the election from Cynthia, recent data from an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis suggest otherwise. In fact, out of the 68,612 votes cast for her opponent in the August 20th primary, Denise Majette, a former state court judge, only approximately 3 percent could be considered cross-over Republicans. Majette won easily, capturing 58 percent of the total votes cast in the District. In their October 15 article, staff writers Ben Smith and David Milliron of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution concluded that the "cross-over vote was, at most, a couple of percentage points higher than normal" and its influence on the outcome "wasn't even close."

In the voting in the 44th Congressional District, State Rep. Billy McKinney did slightly better in the primary than his daughter, but still not enough to win a clear-cut victory. His modest showing against first-time politician John Noel forced a Democratic runoff on September 10th, the first ever in McKinney's 30 years as a Representative of the people, with disastrous results for McKinney. As Rhonda Cook, a writer with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution stated, he was "clobbered nearly 2-1," ending a 30-year political career. The results were approximately 65 percent of the vote for Noel and 35 percent for McKinney; a very poor showing, indeed, for such an experienced and tenured politician.

The problems besetting both of the McKinney campaigns appears to have been centered upon voter disenchantment with their political unresponsiveness and periodic confrontational remarks. For instance, Cynthia McKinney was lambasted publicly for insensitivity after comments suggesting that President Bush was aware of the impending 9/11 attacks but took no action "so friends and family could reap wartime profits" according to Smith and Milliron.

Many people believe that those comments alone were sufficient to erode McKinney's support base and make her vulnerable to defeat in the primary election. Associated Press writer Kristen Wyatt, confirms this view, and stated in a September 11 wire story, "Cynthia McKinney lost her seat after a string of outrageous comments, including accusations that the Bush Administration ignored warnings of the Sept. 11 attacks because friends in the defense industry would profit from a war."

Billy's problems appear to have been two-fold: He simply didn't work as hard as his opponent and he was prone to confrontational outbursts that alienated him from his constituents. According to reporter Cook, "...the 31-year-old Noel just plain outworked him."

McKinney's continual provocative comments over the years, and especially during this campaign season, also appear to have helped to deflate his campaign and that of daughter Cynthia's, who engaged in the same. For example, when McKinney was asked before the primary why Cynthia's campaign appeared to be in trouble, he spelled out "J-E-W-S."

According to Wyatt, McKinney also "...accused Noel, who is white and a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, of bigotry." Unfortunately for McKinney, his comments were well documented in the media and served to further distance himself from the more rational voting population. Cook states that "Residents, both black and white, grew weary of his racially charged statements." In fact, McKinney's core supporters apparently withdrew their backing for him or just abandoned him altogether. According to Cook, "His longtime base of black residents seemed to grow blasé about his leadership."

This change in the public mind regarding politicians with a confrontational style was also reflected in the Republican primary. On the Republican side of the August primary, confrontational politics contributed to the defeat of another well-known Georgia politician, longtime incumbent U.S. Representative Bob Barr of the 7th District, a conservative heavyweight known for political confrontations. Barr, for instance, was the first politician to call for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, and has for many years been in the public spotlight involving sensitive issues. He suffered defeat in the Republican primary at the hands of John Linder, perceived by many in his district as a kinder and gentler politician. According to Ralph Z. Hallow, a writer for the Washington Times, Barr "lost by a 2-1 margin in his Tuesday primary contest against Rep. John Linder, a fellow conservative Republican who has been less outspoken than Mr. Barr."

It seems that engaging in confrontational politics has its price, and both the McKinney's on the left side of the political spectrum and Barr on the right side, all paid a heavy price for applying the style. They lost important elections, and perhaps terminally jeopardized their political careers.

It would appear that the voters have spoken and their voice has been heard; and a fresh day is dawning. Confrontational politicians are finding it is time to wake up and see the new political light. So has a new era of politics been ushered into the state of Georgia? Perhaps, but only time will tell if it is here to stay as we wait to hear the voters speak again.

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Steve Taylor is an English major at Kennesaw State University and has studied Science and Management at Georgia State University. He currently works in the real estate field; is an appraisal graduate and has a Georgia Associate Broker license.

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