Is all fair legislative redistricting?

Englewood Sun
May 7, 2010

OUR POSITION: From the looks of it, there was something fishy about the Legislature's ballot item on redistricting.

Shenanigans (she-nan-i-gans): Mischief. The process of pulling a fast one in order to gain an advantage, preferably hidden. Also see: Gerrymandering.

State legislative leaders pulled off what looked to be classic shenanigans last week when they pushed through a proposed constitutional amendment that mirrored two items that already had been brought to the November ballot by citizen initiative. The mirror had a bit of a funhouse warp in it, really. From all appearances, it seemed the Republican leadership was protecting its own turf literally while professing to "clarify" the process of legislative redistricting.

For months, House and Senate leaders have maintained the two ballot questions brought through petition by a group called FairDistrictsFlorida.org needed clarification because they could lead to less minority representation. FairDistrict's intention in Amendments 5 and 6 seemed straighforward enough: to decrease the possibility for gerrymandering of districts by the political party in power when lines are redrawn each decade. The amendments ó one for the state Legislature and one for Congress ó set broad objectives: that districts be compact and contiguous when possible, that they stick to local boundaries where feasible and that they strive to maintain minority opportunity.

While continuing with the "clarification" measure, legislative leaders revealed less-noble motivations during floor debate last week. They claimed the citizen-petition process had been driven by partisan Democratic interests, by unions and lawyers. They even trotted out a familiar whipping boy, ACORN, which had contributed funds to the effort, as an example of a shadow conspiracy that needed a counter-balance. No matter that such middle-of-the-road stalwarts as the League of Women Voters were also solidly behind the effort.

We've never been big fans of the amendment process, but it's hard to see how a redistricting system less conducive to potential shenanigans could be established otherwise. It's often just a fact that politicians tend to give up power only when you unwrap their cold, dead fingers from it.

This bill also would give citizens the right to sue over newly formed districts that seemed sketchy, which some have argued would gum up the process. In reality, the possibility of a legal challenge seems an appropriate power that might, indeed, deter the more absurd forms of gerrymandering.

Like Senate District 27.

No less than Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, noted the plain weirdness of his own hodgepodge district, which begins in Palm Beach County and stretches in a thin strip through Hendry, Glades, Lee and Charlotte counties. "If you want to talk about gerrymandering, I am the poster child," Aronberg said.

He voted against the "clarifying" amendment, but it passed both chambers and will be on the ballot in November, alongside the others. Will it confuse voters enough so that the ballot items fail to go above the necessary 60-percent threshold? Maybe. Sen. Michael Bennett, R-Bradenton, insisted that wasn't the aim, but it did appear that way in the funhouse mirror.