Video: Senate holds its own 'drawing for districts' lottery

The Florida Senate evoked comparisons to Vanna White and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ Wednesday as it held a lottery  to randomly determine which districts get two- or four-year terms.

In a scene was reminiscent of a Lotto telecast, senators watched as the secretary of the Senate used green and white bingo balls, brass tumbling machines and a large map to conduct the drawing. Their goal was to remove any doubt that the district numbers selected for the next decade does not favor incumbents.

But not everyone agreed with the approach.

Senate continues redistricting debate, tangled in district numbers

As the Senate Redistricting Committee begins a second day of discussions on its rewritten maps, senators turned to the Florida Lottery to resolve their differences over how to number their districts.

The Florida Constitution requires staggered terms and elections in years with numbers that are multiples of four -- such as 2012 – for legislators in odd-numbered districts. In a reapportionment year, however, every district must have an election, so half the districts get a two-year term while the other half get a four-year term. Some will be winners, others losers.

Committee Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, suggested the Senate use a lottery-style system and had staff demonstrate how it would work, rolling in two tumblers that would be used to designate the random scheme. He said that Attorney General Pam Bondi had already agreed to conduct the drawing on the Senate floor. Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, joked the Senate could sell advertising to help close the budget. But Sen. David Simmons commended the idea as excellent but objected to the show.

"We don't need Vanna White,'' he said, and suggested a "dignified drawing" be done in the privacy of the Senate secretary's office with independent monitors and recorded on video tape. "Your theory is excellent, I just suggest we adopt a system that is much more restrained."

Latvala map mends Gardiner v. Simmons matchup; Diaz de la Portilla weighs in

The Florida Senate's Redistricting Committee will meet on Tuesday and discuss at least three competing proposals by Senate Republicans to fix the map rejected by the Florida Supreme Court.

In addition to the map proposed by Redistricting Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, on Monday filed an alternative proposal that addresses some of the troubles Republicans had with Gaetz's plan. A third map by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, was also filed to primarily reconfigure several South Florida districts. And amid the infighting between Republicans, the Senate Democrats, who had considered offering an alternative map, did not submit one by Monday's deadline.

Among the changes proposed by Latvala:

* It no longer draws Sen. David Simmons and Sen. Andy Gardiner in the same Orlando-based seat. Latvala has aligned with Gardiner in helping to hoist him into contention for the 2014 Senate president's job and has offered his proposal to help strengthen the map for the Orlando Republican.

Analysis shows Senate gives up one R seat to Ds, retains majority with at least 23

According to a Herald/Times analysis of voting data in the 2008 and 2010 elections, the map proposed by Senate Redistricting Chairman Don Gaetz  would continue a strong Republican majority in the 40-member chamber but relinquish one more seat to Democrats than the first map rejected by the Florida Supreme Court.

Under Gaetz's plan, the Senate would have 23 Republican-leaning districts and 15 Democrat-leaning seats, up from the current 12 seats now held by the minority party. Another two seats, District 8 in Central Florida, and District 17 in Pinellas, would be competitive. District 8 is the district Republican Rep. Dorothy Hukill of Port Orange is seeking and her likely opponent is Frank Bruno, the chairman of the Volusia County Commission.

District 17 is the seat now held by Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who has been engaged in the leadership fight mounted against Sen. Andy Gardiner last month by Gaetz allies, Sen. John Thrasher and Sen. Joe Negron.  

Gaetz says Senate will conduct a lottery on the floor for new district numbers

In a letter to senators Saturday, Sen. Don Gaetz said his proposed redistricting rewrite assigns temporary numbers to the districts and describes an elaborate process by which the new numbers will be chosen.

Because the numbering of the districts will determine whether senators will serve a two-year or a four-year term after this year's elections -- potentially allowing some to exceed the eight-year term limit -- Gaetz said they will be assigned new districts numbers randomly on the Senate floor "by neutral, independent party." Download Gaetz memo 317

Scott Arceneaux, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party called the idea "ridiculous."

"They have the political backbone of a chocolate eclair,'' he said. "they cout said you can't give senators 10-year terms and no one wants to stand up to senators and tell them they can't get 10-year terms. How hard is that? Apparently pretty hard."

Gaetz defended his map as a constitutionally sound remedy to the defects found by the Florida Supreme Court, specifically relating to Districts 1, 3, 6, 9, 10, 29, 30, and 34.

Rod Smith calls Gaetz's map a stalling tactic to avoid implementing the law

Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith slammed Senate Redistricting Chairman Don Gaetz Saturday for submitting a flawed fix to the chamber's rejected map in an attempt to stall the implementation of the new redistricting rules.

"As they have since Florida voters passed Amendments 5 and 6, Republican leadership is fighting Fair Districts tooth and nail, resisting at every turn their duty to draw impartial maps that comply with the law and the will of the people,'' Smith said in a statement.

"The map Sen. Don Gaetz has proposed brings us no closer to complying with the court's ruling and is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt by the GOP Senate leadership to stall the implementation of Fair Districts and cling to their gerrymandered power.  Not only have they thwarted the will of 63-percent of Florida voters,  they are now thumbing their nose at Florida's Supreme Court. It's clear they have no intent to comply with the court's ruling."

Here' is the background from the statement: 

Gaetz map pits Gardiner and Simmons, Bogdanoff and Sachs against each other

Senate Redistricting Chairman Don Gaetz waded deeply into the Senate Leadership fight with a new map that leaves nearly all of the returning senators protected with the exception of Sen. Andy Gardiner and one of his closest allies, Sen. David Simmons.

According to a Herald/Times analysis, the two Orlando-based Republicans would be forced into the same district in the Gaetz plan. Also forced to run against each other or move is Sen. Maria Sachs, a Delray Beach Democrat, who is now in the same district as Sen. Ellyn Bogdnaoff, a Fort Lauderdale Republican.

The Senate leadership wars pit Gardiner against St. Augustine Republican John Thrasher and Stuart Republican Joe Negron for the 2014 Senate presidency. Gaetz is believed to be a Thrasher ally. Download Gaetz map description

Update: Simmons says he will move to Seminole County, denies the map was intended to influence the Senate leadership fight, claims that Thrasher has now conceded to Gardiner, and tells the Herald/Times that "the 2014 Senate presidency race is over." As for the 2016 fight between Sen. Jack Latvala and either Thrasher or Negron, that race is still a hot potato.

Gaetz's map continues to split Okaloosa County horizontally along I-10, except for the
city of Crestview, which is folded into Gaetz' District 3 to the south. He avoids a head-to-head match-up with Sen. Greg Evers', who also lives in Okaloosa County but remains in the District 1 seat that now includes all of Escambia County.

Gaetz releases his proposed Senate redistricting fix

The Florida Senate on Saturday released its first attempt at fixing its rejected Senate redistricting map with a proposal that appears to reconfigure districts in a such a way that top Senate leaders remain protected in their homes districts. (Stay tuned here for a complete Herald/Times analysis of the performance and incumbent placement of the proposed districts. We will be making live updates throughout the afternoon.)

The map, released by Senate Redistricting Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, is a response to a March 9 ruling by the Florida Supreme Court that threw out the Senate map and validated the House map based on the new redistricting standards approved by voters in 2010.  The proposal also seeks to ask the court to invalidate individual districts if it sees future problems, but allow the rest of the map go forward.

Gaetz's plan addresses the court's criticism of his district, by keeping Escambia County whole but it also includes an odd-shaped leg into Crestview to pick up voters for his district. The proposal, however, leaves the numbering system in place that the court said showed bias towards incumbents.

As legislators mend Senate map, they seek no fix to congressional plan

As lawmakers meet in the Capitol to reshape state Senate districts thrown out in court, a bitter fight is brewing in a courthouse across the street that could change the shape of new districts for Congress all over Florida.

A coalition of voters groups and the state Democratic Party is suing to derail the Legislature’s new maps of congressional districts.

The result of the battle will have statewide ramifications because it will determine the shape of Florida’s 27 congressional districts, including that of Republican Mario Diaz Balart of Miami — which opponents say was drawn especially to improve Republican voting strength.

The battle could also determine the shape of Democrat Corrine Brown’s district, which now snakes across nine counties near Jacksonville.

$800 flights, a championship coach, and a 15-minute floor session: It's March Madness in Tallahassee

March Madness is in full swing in the Capitol.

Members of the Legislature traveled from their districts to Tallahassee for a special session to redraw Senate electoral maps, and spent about 15 minutes in the chamber before heading back home, some on $800 flights.

Members of the House can thank their Senate counterparts for the brief return to Tallahassee. Redistricting maps drawn by the Senate were rejected by Florida's Supreme Court last week as unconstitutional. The House maps were unanimously approved. Gov. Rick Scott called lawmakers back for a special re-do session.

With their maps in shape, House members were left with nothing to do, so they invited Leonard Hamilton, coach of Florida State University's basketball team to the agenda-less Chamber.