Redistricting issue troubles justices

FLORIDA TODAY ( Melbourne , FL )

February 10, 2006

Author:  AARON DESLATTE

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Supreme Court justices raised concerns Thursday that an initiative to bar state lawmakers from drawing their own political districts might run afoul of the state and federal constitutions.

The Committee for Fair Elections has run a $3 million drive to convince voters the current redistricting process is tainted by partisanship, and the once-a-decade job of re-drawing Florida 's political landscape should be put in the hands of an independent commission.

If approved by the court, the proposed amendment would go before voters in November.

But four of the seven members of Florida 's high court -- which reviews whether citizen-initiated constitutional amendments are clear and stick to one subject -- expressed misgivings during arguments Thursday that backers were rolling multiple issues into one question for voters.

For instance, the amendment would strip the state Legislature of both the power to re-draw state House and Senate districts, and Florida 's congressional districts, which Republican detractors said were two different processes.

The U.S. Constitution delegates the power to draw congressional lines to state legislatures, which poses federal legal problems, opponents argued.

It would also strip the governor of the power to veto congressional districts, limit the number of House and Senate seats, and confine districts to "single-member" status -- all new restrictions that could be construed as separate issues.

"How can it be the same subject?" asked Justice Charles Wells.

Defenders said those changes all related to the same goal.

"The people who have signed these petitions want to take partisanship out of the process," attorney Mark Herron said. Without embedding such standards in the amendment, the commission wouldn't truly be nonpartisan.

"I don't necessarily see standards being in there as a fatal thing."

Opponents, including Gov. Jeb Bush and House and Senate Republicans, called the amendment misleading because party leaders in the Legislature would appoint 12 of the 15 commission seats.

"What it tells the voters is the parties play no part in the selection methodology," said Barry Richard, representing three state senators challenging the amendment. "Nothing could be further from the truth."

Bush has called the effort a "left-wing" attempt by Democrats to undermine GOP control of state politics.

Former state education commissioner Betty Castor, a co-chair of the committee, said after the hearing that voters understood what they were signing.

In other court action, lawyers for a German man convicted of killing his girlfriend almost two decades ago argued to the court on Thursday that evidence showing he may have been a victim of prosecutors who urged witnesses to lie has been ignored.

Dieter Riechmann was convicted in 1988 of murdering Kersten Kischnick while the two were visiting Florida from Rheinfelden , Germany , in late 1987.

__________________________

SENTENCE UPHELD.

Florida Supreme Court upholds death sentence of Frank Walls, 9B

Edition:  Final/All
Section:  Local/State
Page:  B10

Copyright (c) FLORIDA TODAY. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.

Record Number:  brv24288253