Divided on redistricting

With its native son and future speaker of the House in charge of redistricting, a lot of folks thought Pasco County would be poised to gain seats and influence for the next decade.

But for many with their eyes on future political office, the maps that go before the state Senate today leave a lot to be desired.

"Sometimes with redistricting, personal ambitions can collide with politics," University of South Florida political scientist Susan MacManus said.

Longtime state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, has been eying a run for Congress for years. He nearly ended up with a district that was virtually gift-wrapped — an open seat where two-thirds of the population live in Pasco. But the district was shifted west to pick up coastal Pinellas County — and incumbent congressman Gus Bilirakis' hometown of Palm Harbor.

"In the immediate future, I would not challenge Gus Bilirakis if the congressional district stayed the same," Fasano said. "Of course, we don't know what the courts will do."

If the court ends up redrawing the congressional map, the new districts likely wouldn't take effect until the 2014 election.

"I'm very disappointed in the final product," Fasano said.

Others speculate the district was changed at the last minute to punish Fasano, who had a very public falling out with the Pasco Republican Executive Committee over his support of Charlie Crist in the 2010 Senate race.

"Fasano can still put up a challenge if he wants to," Republican State Committeeman Bill Bunting said. A longtime Bilirakis supporter, Bunting said he'd like to see the congressman open at least one office in Pasco if he wins the new 12th District.

Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey, chaired the subcommittee that drew the congressional maps, and he said the final version was his "plan C."

"It's still a Pasco seat," he said. "You can't win that congressional seat without winning Pasco County."

Many of the people who spoke at Pasco's redistricting public hearing last July say they're disappointed with the maps that are coming out of the Legislature. The proposed Senate map has caused the most heartburn for Pasco voters, who told legislators they wanted the county either kept whole or divided along east and west lines.

Zephyrhills High School Principal and mayoral candidate Steve Van Gorden complained that the proposed map keeps Zephyrhills and Dade City in separate Senate districts. "That makes absolutely no sense, in my opinion," he said.

State Senate candidate Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, said the county would have been better served with a single Senate district. "They totally ignored the comments from our public hearing," Simpson said. "There wasn't a single person who said Pasco should be divided north-south."

Even Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, went public with his concerns that Pasco was being shortchanged. But he and his Senate counterpart agreed not to change each other's maps.

"Will Weatherford had no input on the Senate map," Fasano said. "He had concerns, and he went public with them. But in the end, it had zero impact."

The way the districts are drawn, Legg could challenge incumbent Sen. Jim Norman, D-Hillsborough, for District 15. He and his wife own a home in Trinity, which is just inside the district line. But Legg said he plans to run in District 20.

"I'm running in west Pasco," Legg said. "I see (the 15th) as more of a Hillsborough and central Pasco seat."

Fasano said he expects the Florida Supreme Court to reject the Senate map for failing to comply with Amendment 5. The Fair Districts Amendment says legislators cannot draw districts designed to favor incumbents. While the House map put 35 sitting members in competing districts, not a single state senator was drawn out of his or her district.