Critics bash Florida lawmakers' redistricting process

Anti-gerrymandering advocates used the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature's first public meeting on redistricting Monday to say what they think's wrong with the process.

They argued that lawmakers should draw up proposed maps for legislative and congressional districts first and then get getting public comment on how they might be changed. Lawmakers don't plan on drawing maps until after they hold public meetings through Sept. 1 in 25 more cities and towns.

"Where are the maps?" asked American Civil Liberties Union regional director Susan Watson. "Make a map now, present it to the public now and start a meaningful conversation. … We don't want fake hearings and meaningless talk."

Lawmakers didn't immediately respond because legislative leaders have ordered them not to comment during the meetings, but they defended their procedures later at a news conference.

"Are you going to be able to talk to us?" Tallahassee resident Bob Fulford asked during the meeting.

After a brief silence, House Redistricting Chairman Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said he would respond only after Fulford finished his comments including an observation that president districts "look like the original gerrymander."

"There is no gag order," Weatherford then said. "This is a listening tour."

Lawmakers broke their silence only once more during the meeting when Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, insisted on defending the honor of Miami-Dade County after a woman said she left there because "That is not my country anymore."

Weatherford and his Senate counterpart, though, had plenty to say to reporters after the meeting including a response to several critics who had urged then to speed up the redistricting process.

They included Deidre Macnab, president of the Florida League of Women Voters. She said it appears the Legislature won't finish its work until March, leaving little time for legal challenges and a federal Justice Department review before candidates begin qualifying next June.

"Florida deserves elections where the people have time to understand their choices," Macnab said. "This timeline only benefits incumbents."

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, later said it's not necessarily true lawmakers won't vote until February or March. He said there's no reason they won't vote sooner at least in committee.

Gaetz said the public will be a chance to comment on the maps at meetings in Tallahassee before they go to a vote although lawmakers may not take their show on the road again.

"We live in the internet age," Gaetz said. "You don't have to get in a car and drive across town or across the state to participate."

The two redistricting leaders noted the public can comment at any time and citizens even can submit their own maps on the Legislature's redistricting website.

Fort Walton Beach tea party activist Henry Kelly was one of the few speakers who defended the Legislature's approach, saying he's "glad to start with a blank slate."

Mcnab also urged lawmakers to drop their code of silence and stop using taxpayer money to fight a pair of state constitutional amendments on legislative and congressional redistricting that voters adopted last year. The House has joined two members of Congress in a court challenge to the congressional redistricting amendment.

The amendments sponsored by the Fair Districts Now coalition prohibit drawing districts to favor incumbents or the party in power. Other provisions require district lines to follow existing political boundaries as much as possible and that they do nothing to diminish representation of minorities.

Representatives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Common Cause, partners with the in the coalition with the League of Women Voters, offered similar criticism.

Common Cause national governing board member Peter Butzin suggested lawmakers hold another round of public meetings after proposed maps are drawn.

Gaetz and Weatherford also wrote a letter to Fair Districts leader Ellen Freiden reminding her that she once said lawmakers should get public input for drawing maps.

At the meeting, though, Tallahassee resident Marty Monroe, who called herself a "recovering civics teacher," told lawmakers the 63 percent voter approval the amendments received was "a lot of input" from the public.