By James Call
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-895819.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – A Florida Senate committee on Monday continued adding into the public record reasons why two proposed constitutional amendments are unworkable. Voters will decide the fate of Fair Districts' proposed amendments 5 and 6. They would set new guidelines in drawing state house and congressional seats. James Call reports one powerful lawmaker says they will make the once in a decade task of redistricting more difficult than it needs to be.
Lawmakers say the Fair Districts plan would make getting U.S. Department of Justice clearance for voting districts nearly impossible. They say the current method, implemented in 1992, produced six congressional seats held by minorities in a state that had not had one since the end of reconstruction more than a hundred years before. That plan was upheld again by the courts in 2002. Senate President -Designate Mike Haridopolos had said trading the current method, which is guided by three standards, for Fair Districts proposed nine standards will turn the once a decade redistricting exercise into lawsuit city.
"The plan, as is, is very much unworkable, and today you have to make sure it passes constitutional muster, so we are trying to figure out a way. How do we affirm the spirit of it, but make sure it works? I mean, people want government to work again, and everyone has admitted even in their own testimony that this would be difficult to actually follow through and implement."
Haridopolos is trying to head off a constitutional crisis over redistricting when he is the Senate President. He has been holding informational and mock drawing seminars since January. His staff has used digital technology and logic exercises to deconstruct the Fair Districts proposal. Supporters of Fair Districts have been attending the meetings and sessions Haridopolos has been holding about how difficult Fair Districts will make drawing political boundaries for lawmakers to compete in. Their response is not unlike a parent of a middle school student complaining about homework.
"There are at least twenty other states that have the same kind of setup that we have proposed in these amendments, and they've redistricted."
Marilynn Wills is with the Florida League of Women Voters, which supports the Fair Districts proposals.
"Iowa has been one of the states that's had the most competitive elections. They even announced that during one of the big elections a few years ago, and they have a committee that sets up the districts. So, if it's so impossible to do, maybe they should ask them for their expertise."
Fair Districts proposals appear on the November ballot as amendments 5 and 6; one for state offices, and the other for congressional seats. They would require districts be drawn not to favor or disfavor a candidate or party, not to deny equal opportunity to racial or language minorities, be compact, and respect city and counties boundaries when possible. Lawmakers say it cannot be done. However, Senator Haridopolos understands if sixty-percent of voters say yes to Amendment 5 or 6, he will have to get it done.
"So we are going to continue to take testimony and see where we can go with it, and see if we cannot some way accomplish the spirit 5 and 6, because people don't want to see politics in reapportionment, but more importantly they want to see government work."