Again? Sunshine State News details even more suspect behavior from the folks at FairDistricts Florida and their Democratic allies re 2012 redistricting: the very epitome of a backroom deal -theirs!
Is that why Fair Districts NEVER submitted a plan in November?
Coming fresh on the heels of my email and subsequent blog post of Tuesday the 17th, titled
Hypocrisy on FL Redistricting: Why FairDistricts Florida & Florida League of Women Voters are early contenders for this blog's Turkey of the Year Award -all talk, little action and no submitted maps before the legal deadline
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/hypocrisy-on-fl-redistricting-why.html
and the rather stunning news Thursday from Peter Schorschsain at Saint Petersblog that showed how very suspect the judgement of someone at the top like Ellen Freidin (and her husband) were to even the appearance of impropriety...
Saint Petersblog
Law firm of Fair Districts’ Freidin’s husband donates $500 to 3 FL Supr. Ct. justices before redistricting hearing
Posted by Peter Schorsch, April 19th, 2012
http://saintpetersblog.com/2012/04/law-firm-of-fair-districts-friedins-husband-donates-500-to-3-fl-supr-ct-justices-before-redistricting-hearing/
it's clear that the folks who, first, wanted my signature, and then months later, my vote -twice- are guilty of pulling a fraud all this time, despite their lofty-sounding rhetoric.
And now the specific details of that betrayal are starting to publicly emerge.
The total number of maps submitted by the public to the Florida Senate redistricting committee by the November 1st, 2011 5 p.m. deadline was 156.
Seriously, it's one thing to complain from the sidelines, but to remain on the sidelines and submit ZERO actual plans to the state Senate to vote upon after you actually win a resounding victory from Florida voters with 63% of the vote?
What sort of geniuses do that?
Plus, in case you forgot the chronology, on January 27th, there was this bit of news regarding Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich from western Broward:
Rich decides not to file amendment for Dems redistricting map
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/01/rich-decides-not-to-file-amendment-redistricting-map.html
Yes, this all sounds remarkably like someone who wins the war but then loses the peace.
It sounds suspiciously and clumsily Dan Gelber-like to me.
As I wrote here on Tuesday in that referenced blog post, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature, thru the Senate Redistricting Comm. had a terrific information-filled website, a Twitter feed and a YouTube Channel to share information, including clips from the actual redistricting meetings that were held around the state.
Conversely, today, April 22, 2012, when you go to YouTube and do a search for "Ellen Freidin," assuming that over a period of three years, there surely must be at least a few dozen or so videos of her that are at least 30-seconds or longer that have been posted there where she was at least one of the guests -if not the sole interview- of one of the dozens of TV stations in Florida, or even newspaper-affiliated blogs with a YouTube Channel -another area where the Miami Herald is MIA- guess what you find?
On the plus side, because most of the videos that were shown as results for the Freidin search were from the Ellen DeGeneres Show, no matter how many times you do it, we were reminded once again of "Kristen Bell's Sloth Meltdown"
Yes, the lovely, talented and clearly quite-a-handful Miss Bell.
Sunshine State News
Well, it's not like we weren't warned in advance, is it?
Nope, over two years ago there were clear signs of what has come to pass.
Ellen Freidin was given the opportunity by the Florida Senate to try putting together maps according to the parameters of the two Amendments to the Florida Constitution that I voted fo, after urging their passage here on this blog many times.
As Bill Coterell's column below shows, she turned them down.
Earlier this year, they renewed that same offer
She turned them down again.
So what are we left to think?
Redistricting proposals under fire
More than two years later, it's clearly too late for Freiden, Gelber & Company to call a crisis management firm to save them.
They have met the enemy and it is themselves.
-----
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/florida-redistricting/
http://htpolitics.com/?s=redistricting
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/category/buzz-tags/florida-redistricting
http://saintpetersblog.com/
www.floridaredistricting.org
http://mydistrictbuilder.wordpress.com/
http://www.capitaldatelineonline.com/
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/
August 31, 2009 Buzz blog
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/ellen-freidin-fair-districts-fla-no-democratic-scheme
Is that why Fair Districts NEVER submitted a plan in November?
Coming fresh on the heels of my email and subsequent blog post of Tuesday the 17th, titled
Hypocrisy on FL Redistricting: Why FairDistricts Florida & Florida League of Women Voters are early contenders for this blog's Turkey of the Year Award -all talk, little action and no submitted maps before the legal deadline
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/hypocrisy-on-fl-redistricting-why.html
and the rather stunning news Thursday from Peter Schorschsain at Saint Petersblog that showed how very suspect the judgement of someone at the top like Ellen Freidin (and her husband) were to even the appearance of impropriety...
Saint Petersblog
Law firm of Fair Districts’ Freidin’s husband donates $500 to 3 FL Supr. Ct. justices before redistricting hearing
Posted by Peter Schorsch, April 19th, 2012
http://saintpetersblog.com/2012/04/law-firm-of-fair-districts-friedins-husband-donates-500-to-3-fl-supr-ct-justices-before-redistricting-hearing/
it's clear that the folks who, first, wanted my signature, and then months later, my vote -twice- are guilty of pulling a fraud all this time, despite their lofty-sounding rhetoric.
And now the specific details of that betrayal are starting to publicly emerge.
The total number of maps submitted by the public to the Florida Senate redistricting committee by the November 1st, 2011 5 p.m. deadline was 156.
Seriously, it's one thing to complain from the sidelines, but to remain on the sidelines and submit ZERO actual plans to the state Senate to vote upon after you actually win a resounding victory from Florida voters with 63% of the vote?
What sort of geniuses do that?
Plus, in case you forgot the chronology, on January 27th, there was this bit of news regarding Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich from western Broward:
Rich decides not to file amendment for Dems redistricting map
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/01/rich-decides-not-to-file-amendment-redistricting-map.html
Yes, this all sounds remarkably like someone who wins the war but then loses the peace.
It sounds suspiciously and clumsily Dan Gelber-like to me.
As I wrote here on Tuesday in that referenced blog post, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature, thru the Senate Redistricting Comm. had a terrific information-filled website, a Twitter feed and a YouTube Channel to share information, including clips from the actual redistricting meetings that were held around the state.
Conversely, today, April 22, 2012, when you go to YouTube and do a search for "Ellen Freidin," assuming that over a period of three years, there surely must be at least a few dozen or so videos of her that are at least 30-seconds or longer that have been posted there where she was at least one of the guests -if not the sole interview- of one of the dozens of TV stations in Florida, or even newspaper-affiliated blogs with a YouTube Channel -another area where the Miami Herald is MIA- guess what you find?
No video results for “"Ellen Freidin"”Surprise!
On the plus side, because most of the videos that were shown as results for the Freidin search were from the Ellen DeGeneres Show, no matter how many times you do it, we were reminded once again of "Kristen Bell's Sloth Meltdown"
Yes, the lovely, talented and clearly quite-a-handful Miss Bell.
Sunshine State News
Democrats Tried to Hatch Back-Door 'Deal' on Redistricting, Don Gaetz Says
By Kenric Ward
Posted: April 21, 2012 3:55 AM
While publicly posturing for "fairness" in redistricting, a group of top Florida Democrats privately pushed for maps that would benefit party brass, according to documents obtained by Sunshine State News.
Read the rest of the amazing story at:
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/democrats-tried-hatch-backdoor-deal-redistricting-don-gaetz-says
Well, it's not like we weren't warned in advance, is it?
Nope, over two years ago there were clear signs of what has come to pass.
Ellen Freidin was given the opportunity by the Florida Senate to try putting together maps according to the parameters of the two Amendments to the Florida Constitution that I voted fo, after urging their passage here on this blog many times.
As Bill Coterell's column below shows, she turned them down.
Earlier this year, they renewed that same offer
She turned them down again.
So what are we left to think?
Redistricting proposals under fire
Legislators challenge FairDistricts Florida head to redraw district lines
By Bill Cotterell, Florida Capital Bureau
February 12, 2010
Florida's two most powerful legislators challenged the head of the FairDistricts Florida campaign Thursday to draw a legal congressional map under the terms the group's proposed constitutional amendment would require if passed.
Ellen Freidin, who chaired the petition campaign that put two constitutional amendments on the November ballot, declined the offer. Worn out by more than three hours of what she described as often rude questions, she accepted software and a batch of paperwork from the 2002 redistricting but said she won't bother trying to draw congressional lines that might suit the openly hostile House and Senate committees.
"Many of the members of this committee are very concerned about losing their opportunity to redraw the districts in 2012 in order to insure their own political perpetuation," she said. "I actually wasn't expecting to be treated quite as rudely as I think that I was treated, quite frankly, but I was expecting a lot of resistance."
FairDistrict's proposed amendments, on the ballot Nov. 2, would prohibit new congressional and legislative districts drawn to favor or handicap any political party or incumbent officeholders. Districts would have to be as nearly equal in population as practical, be compact and respect the boundaries of cities, counties and other communities as much as possible.
They would still be subject to minority-access rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. But legislators would no longer be able to concentrate blacks, Hispanics and certain party members into a few districts.
Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, offered to fly Freidin back to Tallahassee, give her access to House and Senate staff and provide any other data or help she needs to draw a sample congressional map.
"This is not rocket science," Freidin, a Miami lawyer, said at a joint meeting of the House and Senate committees. "This Legislature is totally capable of drawing maps with these standards."
Haridopolos and Cannon then pounced.
"We'll give you the software, a week, two weeks, if it's so easy to do," said Haridopolos. "You take the 2002 census data and draw us 25 congressional districts that meet your easy-to-reach criteria."
He added, "Theory is one thing, practice is another."
Freidin asked, "Are you suggesting that redistricting maps can be drawn simply by putting data into a computer?" She said it takes census data, voter registration numbers, performance data from past elections, public testimony by voters and "the collegial work of the legislative body" — none of which she could duplicate in an experiment.
"Will you do it or not?" asked Cannon.
"I don't have a Legislature to work with me on this," she replied. "I don't have public hearings."
Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, told Freidin he has been in the House or Senate through two remapping sessions, in 1992 and 2002, and that it would be impossible to protect minority districts without some "collusion" between the parties. He said the number of black members in the Legislature would decline if members were forbidden to consider party affiliation or incumbency when drawing district lines.
"I absolutely cannot say this more unequivocally," she replied. "There is not any reason to think this is going to impact negatively on minority representation."
She took the occasion to announce that the Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches has endorsed the two amendments.
"I know what took place at the table, at night, looking at maps," said Lawson. "We (Democrats) were in the majority then and when we drew them, we thought we were protecting Democrats, and they got defeated anyway."
More than two years later, it's clearly too late for Freiden, Gelber & Company to call a crisis management firm to save them.
They have met the enemy and it is themselves.
-----
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/florida-redistricting/
http://htpolitics.com/?s=redistricting
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/category/buzz-tags/florida-redistricting
http://saintpetersblog.com/
www.floridaredistricting.org
http://mydistrictbuilder.wordpress.com/
http://www.capitaldatelineonline.com/
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/
August 31, 2009 Buzz blog
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/ellen-freidin-fair-districts-fla-no-democratic-scheme
