The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 54

DEKALB EXTRA, AVCUST4, 1988 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT DO How Close to Home Will 51st Race 0 RESTAURANT LISTING Come to Incumbent Ken Workman? Uuu ITALIAN By Chuck Bell Staff Writer State Rep. Ken Workman is FOR INFORMATION ON USTING YOUR RESTAURANT IN THIS EXTRA RESTAURANT LISTING CALL 526-5197 hoping that when he tells voters in the 51st District to examine his record, they will focus their attention Workman is being challenged by two blacks, Thur-bert Baker and James L. Johnson, in the Democratic primary and a black Republican, Hugh Wright, is waiting to meet the winner TONI'S CASA NAPOll, ITALIAN DINER'S DREAM! Veal Sophia, Monarello Marinara Pasta specialties. Shrimp, Grouper Snapper topped off whomemode desserts. Open 7 days a week.

Facilities for meetings ana parlies, etc. Gift certificates avail. 394-9359. on his legislative record rather than his domestic problems. About this time last year, police were called to Mr.

Workman's Stone Mountain home to break up an al tercation between the legislator and Re-elect Brince his wife, Carole. Officers found that two cars at the residence had been damaged, with an ax. No charges were filed in that in iKMaIrMrMIl, cident but Workman already was facing prosecution on six counts of simple battery stemming from earlier incidents in which he allegedly committed violence against hs wife. in DeKalb Commissioner Let's Keep Good Government DeKalb County Solicitor Ralph Bowden agreed not to prosecute Mr. Workman if he would attend a 16-week counseling program for abusive husbands.

Mr. Workman consented but was never admitted to the program. He was never prosecuted, how ever. Mr. Bowden, at the urging of Mrs.

Workman, withdrew the charges. Democratic Primary: August 9, 1988 Punch No.62 Paid Political Advertisement Mr. Johnson said he views Mr. Workman's marital troubles as being irrelevant to the campaing and he hopes the voters will not be in-' fluenced by that "I think everyone understands that people sometimes have marital problems," he said. "That's something that could happen to anybody." He also dismissed race as an issue in the campaign.

"Some people want to bring up the black-white thing but that has nothing to do with it" he said. "If he were representing us they way he should, I wouldn't be running against him. Look at Betty Aaron. She's white and represents a distrcit that's 63 percent black, and she's running unopposed." Mr. Johnson accused Mr.

Work-. man of being a virtual absentee representative. "My concern with Ken," he said. "Is that he's never there when we need him. Things happen in the district that we never hear about until they're alredy done." Mr.

Johnson said he views himself as a representative of the little guy. "I want to represent people, not big businesses," he said. "I'd rather be out in the street shaking hands with ordinary people than at a cocktail party shaking hands with Mr. Workman said he is basing his campaign on what he has accomplished during his four terms in the legislature. "I know people must get tired of hearing politicians say this," he said, "but I'm running on my record." Mr.

Workman said he viewed the 1988 session of the General Assembly as his most productive to date. He pointed out that he au-' thored the Investment Advisors Act which was, he said, "the culmination of three years of work." He said some portions of the act are now regarded as model legisla- tion for other states to follow. "I think it's a good bill," he said. "It's one of those things that are very important to the security and well-being of the public." Mr. Workman regards the bills he has authored and co-authored dealing with the insurance industry as among his most important accomplishments.

"I didn't want Georgia to get into the situation they had in Florida where the availability of insurance and the cost of insurance got completely out of hand," he said. "That could have been avoid- ed with some prudent legislative action." If re-elected, Mr. Workman said, there are a number of problems he wants to work on. For example, he said, "the state health plan has some substantial defects that are P.O. (o 1771 Demur, CA 30031 They want good schools and good police protection.

They want effective representation in the legislature and they don't really care what color their representative is. "I'm proud of the people of DeKalb County for that," Mr. Workman added, "because that's the way it should be." Workman is being challenged by two blacks, Thurbert Baker and James Johnson, in the Democratic primary and a black Republican, Hugh Wright, is waiting to meet the winner of the three-way Democratic battle in the November general election. Mr. Baker is carefully avoiding any appearance of trying to make political hay out of Workman's troubles with his wife and the law.

"People ask me about it a lot," Bak- -er said, "and my position is that don't want to talk about it The voters know about it and can decide for themselves whether or not it's soemthing that's important to I'm not going to make an issue of it There are some real issues in this campaign that are far more important" Among the issues Mr. Baker regards as important is day care for children of working mothers. "We've got to do something about the day care problem in the district," he said. 'The number of day care facilities has declined and the quality is not as good. That's a situation that has to be dealth with." Mr.

Baker said he also views education as a high priority item. In particular, he said, "we've got to make sure we take good care of our teachers." Continuing the battle against the traffic in illegal drugs is another matter that Mr. Baker wants to put emphasis on. "Everywhere I go in the district, I get into lengthy discussions with people about the drug problem," he said. "We've got to find some way to divert our kids' attention away from drugs." Mr.

Johnson said he is "running as a concerned citizen and not as a politician." Mr. Johnson first ran against Workman in 1981 He said he did NEVER TASTED SO GOODI PORK CHOPS As1 rri Expiree: t1088 At the time all this was going on, Mr. Workman and his wife were supposedly in the process of getting a divorce. Theoretically, the divorce case is still open, but the Work-mans, who had separated briefly, are now living together again, and, Workman said recently, neither of them wants the divorce. Mr.

Workman, who is running for a fifth term in the state House of Representatives, said he regards his domestic difficulties as "the saddest event of my life." He acknowledged that the affair could have a negative impact on his reelection campaign. "On the other hand," he said, "if everybody who has ever had marital problems votes for me I should do all right" He added that, although his marital troubles received widespread publicity at the time, "there is no way anyone can say that it affected the way I performed my duties in the Legislature." Another problem facing Mr. Workman is a far from unique one, He is a white incumbent in a district whose population is increasingly black. "In terms of the number of registered voters," Workman said, "the district was 40 percent black in 1984 and 44 percent black in 1986. As of May 31 of this year, it was 47 percent black.

It could be more than 50 percent by the time of the election." Mr. Workman said he doesn't view the shifting demographics of the district as a problem. "I say that mainly because the people of south DeKalb have demonstrated that they're going to look at the person," "he said. "White people and black people have same interests. lOFiEGE I GflOUflD I (EBB I Mm (EESTEX DEEF IBPIES yuu" 5.99 1 -1 40..

I w7ly FOOD STAMPS ACCEPTED 0 0 I. -OfV CIIT that as a protest "because I was tired of him running unopposed. It was a successful campaign, all things considered. My wife and I got into it late and spent about $2,000 of our own money and we got 900 votes out of 3,000 cast" Know what's happening. Read Leisure Guide every Saturday.

going to have to be dealt with. Another thing we have to look at is how the catastrophic health plan the feds just put in is going to affect our elderly citizens and whether we need to do some fine-tuning at the state level" -This time, Mr. Johnson said, he believes he can win..