Sparse crowd as Legislature begins re-do of congressional map

The Florida Legislature's Tuesday workshop on a proposed recasting of congressional districts attracted more lawmakers and staffers than members of the public.

On the second day of a two-week special session, Senate and House redistricting panels met jointly to hear legal briefings, discuss a new so-called base map proposed by their staff and take public comment. Committee votes will occur Thursday when the two panels meet separately. Early rounds of questioning suggested that contentious days lay ahead for the Legislature that essentially finds itself on trial over its handling of reapportionment.

A familiar face in the crowd belonged to U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, a legislator for nearly three decades who retains close ties to lawmakers and whose political future is suddenly imperiled by the base map. The map proposal would dramatically recast his Orlando-area district, making it more diverse and more Democratic. Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, has expressed interest in running for the proposed new 10th Congressional District, and others will follow if the map is approved.

Lobbyist Richard Pinsky also planned to speak out on the base map on behalf of several business clients in Palm Beach County. The base map would reconfigure heavily-Democratic Palm Beach County and create a new district dominated by Broward County to the south. Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, criticized the base map for splitting Broward into five congressional districts and Palm Beach County into four.

Early discussion was laced with statistics and reapportionment jargon. It focused on the Florida Supreme Court's July 9 decision in which it rejected the Legislature's map and recommended major changes, particularly to the Jacksonville-to-Orlando 5th district, by recasting it from a north-south shape to an east-west design from Jacksonville to the Jackson County border in the Panhandle. The court's 5-2 decision forced the special session, ruling that lawmakers unconstitutionally drew "tainted" lines that favored political parties and incumbents in violation of the two fair districts amendments to the Florida Constitution.

The 5th district is one of three represented by an African-American, Democrat Corrine Brown. The Legislature's map drew the 5th with a black voting age population of 48 percent, and the court's recommended option would reduce it to 45 percent. Justices said the change would still allow black voters to elect their candidate of choice. 

Republican lawmakers quizzed their lawyers, Raoul Cantero III and George Meros, about the justices' political motivations. Cantero advised lawmakers to support the east-to-west configuration of the 5th district and other changes proposed by the plaintiffs in the court case, including Common Cause and the League of Women Voters of Florida.

In October, the Legislature will hold another special session to redo all 40 state Senate districts, with the potential for dramatic changes to lawmakers' own political futures. "While the crowd may be fairly sparse today," noted Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, "that is going to dramatically change when we start talking about own own political futures."

Early discussion was laced with statistics and reapportionment jargon. It focused on the Florida Supreme Court's July 9 decision in which it rejected the Legislature's map and recommended major changes, particularly to the Jacksonville-to-Orlando 5th district, by recasting it from a north-south shape to an east-west design from Jacksonville to the Jackson County border in the Panhandle. The court's 5-2 decision forced the special session, ruling that lawmakers unconstitutionally drew "tainted" lines that favored political parties and incumbents in violation of the two fair districts amendments to the Florida Constitution.

The 5th district is one of three represented by an African-American, Democrat Corrine Brown. The Legislature's map drew the 5th with a black voting age population of 48 percent, and the court's recommended option would reduce it to 45 percent. Justices said the change would still allow black voters to elect their candidate of choice. 

Republican lawmakers quizzed their lawyers, Raoul Cantero III and George Meros, about the justices' political motivations. Cantero advised lawmakers to support the east-to-west configuration of the 5th district and other changes proposed by the plaintiffs in the court case, including Common Cause and the League of Women Voters of Florida.

In October, the Legislature will hold another special session to redo all 40 state Senate districts, with the potential for dramatic changes to lawmakers' own political futures. "While the crowd may be fairly sparse today," noted Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, "that is going to dramatically change when we start talking about own own political futures."