Lawmakers show fear of fairness

Tallahassee Democrat
Monday Feb 15, 2010

There's nothing like a good old-fashioned power-and-turf struggle to kick off another legislative season. Some lawmakers are rattled by the
possibility of two citizen-driven amendments that are meant to help take some of the political machinations out of drawing legislative and Congressional districts.

There is no way to take all the politics out; this is about power and it's about people, after all.

But for three hours last week, two powerful lawmakers inappropriately browbeat Miami attorney Ellen Freidin, chair of the FairDistricts Florida
petition campaign that last year the Supreme Court ruled was ready for the ballot this fall.

Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, who'll be running the two chambers next year, mocked her "easy-to-reach criteria" set out in the amendments, offering to fly Ms. Freidin back to Tallahassee, give her a computer and let her sit in one of their offices and draw the districts.

Right now, the Legislature does the redistricting work every 10 years using the newest Census, which is not yet available to Ms. Freidin or anyone else. But one reason the bipartisan FairDistricts drive started was because lawmakers habitually draw the maps in ways that are too self-serving, assuring their re-election above all.

This occurs regardless which party is in power, but once in power, map-drawing ensures some longevity.

But voters end up the recipients of narrow bloc voting, intellectual gridlock and fewer challengers who are willing to take on incumbents who have
districts tailor-made for them.

The amendments' goal is to make district lines more reflective of the population, following natural geographic and other boundaries, thus avoiding the bizarrely shaped gerrymandered boundaries that ensure a certain election-day outcome.

The Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches has endorsed this new approach. Under the guidelines, blacks, Hispanics and certain party members couldn't be isolated into just a few districts, as they are now, sothat while a few might have a seat at the table, they have no real power in numbers. If all districts have to appeal to a broader demographic, all members would have to consider the causes of blacks, Hispanics or other minorities or interest groups.


The ideal is for a better chance of statesmanship, of thinking of the state as a whole, not just your own safe block of voters.

The ballot issues have been advanced by a bipartisan group of advocates including influential Republican Thom Rumberger, a prominent Florida attorney and chairman of the Everglades Trust, as well as former U.S. Senator and Florida Gov. Bob Graham and former Attorney General Janet Reno, both Democrats.

When it comes to redistricting reform, J. Gerald Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, a D.C.-based non-profit that focuses on campaign finance and elections, political communications and government ethics, told Trend magazine that "People don't think it's possible to change the system, but it is.

"It becomes easier," Mr. Hebert said, "when people realize that the system we have now is politicians choosing voters, rather than voters choosing who their elected representatives are."

These amendments, which will require 60 percent voter approval, advance the cause of voters electing officials rather officials choosing their voters.

That's not something to mock.