Above, one of candidate Scott Fortune's very effective videos I posted on the blog last year from his documentary about the social and economic problems associated with gerrymandering in perhaps the worst drawn congressional district in the country, FL-3, home of Rep. Corrine Brown. http://youtu.be/m2l4WUZ_lcE
The FL redistricting story you NEVER saw in the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, or on local Miami TV -who was Missing-in-Action?
How many of South Florida's State Senators on the 27-member Senate Reapportionment Committee DIDN'T attend important redistricting meetings?
Funny that you asked since it seems like a reasonable question that you'd think might've occurred to people who actually have giant printing presses and modern high-tech TV studios, doesn't it?
Especially given all that shouting a few months ago about what was and wasn't compact and contiguous and the importance of keeping communities intact and not divided.
In other parts of the country that might be something curious reporters pursue, but here in South Florida, not so much.
Five of the scheduled six Comm. meetings have been held the past three months.
Vice-Chair Gwen Margolis -October 18th and November 2nd, November 15th
Oscar Braynon, II -November 2nd, November 15th
Rene Garcia -November 15th,
Larcenia Bullard -October 18th
What is the the purpose of being on the Comm. if you can't/won't show-up for the meetings?
And poor Anitere Flores has been an island onto herself, attending ZERO meetings, whiffing on September 22nd, October 5th, October 18th, November 2nd, November 15th. Zero for five.
Why? Because she was pregnant.
Then why not refuse the appointment so that someone else could participate?
The last scheduled meeting of the Comm. is a week from today, next Tuesday, from 1-6 p.m., and the agenda is:
Consideration of proposed committee bill:SPB 7032 by Reapportionment—Congressional Districts of the State,and, Consideration of proposed committee bill:SPB 7034 by Reapportionment—Apportionment
The Florida Legislature convenes in full session on January 10th.
And talk about being oblivious on Monday night, with all sorts of news coming out of Tallahassee
about proposed redistricting maps in Florida, both for the Florida legislature and for Congress,
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2011/reports/redistricting/ with Florida gaining two new House seats, and where some of the maps favored by the FL Senate have longtime incumbents being drawn-out of their current districts, something that opponents have been saying for months would never happen -inc. Rep. Alcee Hastings- guess which second-tier TV market had zero news stories about it Monday night?
Yes, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale of course
Channel 4/WFOR-TV
The CBS affiliate has two -2- redistricting stories on their website since December of last year, and none of them have video or even have an author's byline.
Channel 6/WTVJ-TV
The NBC affiliate has two generic stories since last December, no video.
Channel 7/WSVN-TV
The FOX affiliate has one story on their website, from August 15th, with no video.
Channel 10/WPLG-TV
The ABC affiliate has two stories on their website
and is the only one of the four that had anything about the proposed maps that were released, albeit, very little info that we didn't already know in a seven-sentence story.
But they had no on-air stories about it.
It also may interest you to know that none of the four English-language Miami TV stations had a single news story on their websites about the redistricting in Miami-Dade and Broward for county commission seats.
That feeble effort, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is the South Florida news media as the year 2011 begins to recede, and we all know that even worse news-reporting is ahead the rest of the year.
Redistricting Maps Drawn by the Senate
On November 28, the Senate Reapportionment Committee published proposed committee bills redrawing district boundaries for congressional and state legislative electoral districts.
Congressional PlanSenate Plan
Palm Beach Post
Change ahead for U.S. Rep. Rooney, state Sen. Benacquisto under redistricting plan
State Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto and U.S. Rep Tom Rooney figure to have their political futures affected by the redistricting plans looming for Florida.
By JOHN KENNEDY, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 10:37 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28, 2011
Posted: 8:43 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28, 2011
TALLAHASSEE — At least two Palm Beach County lawmakers face changing political futures under new district maps unveiled Monday by the Florida Senate.U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, a two-term Tequesta Republican, and state Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, a Republican who formerly served as a Wellington village council member, are moving in opposite directions under the proposals.
Read the rest of the article at
My last blog post on redistricting was last Tuesday, titled, No Fair Districts here: Surprise! NAACP's proposed 2012 map keeps HB & Hollywood divided: Blacks given to Frederica Wilson, Jews to DWS; told ya!
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