VIDEO FOR REDISTRICTING MEETING 1-20-12 http://youtu.be/3Vc7nSMLZU4
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 deadlineIn my very last blog post, about ethics or rather the lack of them at the Florida Supreme Court, I mentioned that I was not surprised that longtime blog nemesis and South Florida Silver Spoon Dan Gelber was quoted saying that he had no problem with the campaign finance chair of the three Justices up for retention this November actually appearing before them, and seemed unconcerned how this sort of behavior comes across to Florida taxpayers.
But that sort of hypocrisy, galling as it is, is nothing compared to the months of the likes of Gelber & Co. whining and continually criticizing the the Republican-controlled state legislature for NOT revealing the redistricting map proposals before the various official meetings were held all over the state last year.
This despite the stone-cold fact that while the state legislature at least placed video of these meetings on YouTube and had a terrific intuitive website that allowed you to access lots of information, while FairDistricts' website offered little to chew over.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MyFloridaHouse
The videos on redistricting are here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MyFloridaHouse/videos?query=redistricting
Well, all I know is that the last three times that I or anyone else on that list heard from them was Sept. 9th and November 22nd of last year, and March 15th.
And the FairDistricts' mailing list?
When you claim to be working hard on an important issue but only contact your own supporters three times in seven months, and once while the decisions are being made, frankly, that's pretty feeble, especially given how much the people there are always telling the news media how much you're doing the work for the people.
I vigorously supported both amendments on this blog before the 2010 election, but it's like the folks at FairDistricts are peeing on my leg and trying to convince me that it's raining.
No, it's not.
As you'll recall from my having mentioned it at the time here on the blog, since this state's own Mainstream Media weren't mentioning it then and haven't mentioned it since the maps were revealed months ago, FairDistricts, The Florida League of Women Voters and La Raza and lots of others groups complaining about the lack of transparency in the process not only refused to release drafts or first editions of their own version of what the maps should look like, they also consciously made the decision NOT to hold public meetings around the state in advance of those official meetings, to educate supporters of FairDistricts.
Supporters like me.
Supporters like me.
How do I know?
Because supporters of FairDistricts, like me, urged them to do so, to ensure that citizens who attended the official meetings wouldn't waste time asking silly questions and could be fully briefed on what to expect.
For the record, I wrote a fact-filled email on August 2nd, 2011 to Jackie Lee, Deirdre Macnab, Margaret Wolter, Elizabeth C. Pines, Annie Betancourt, Sandra Colyer and Adrienne Kaltman, with bcc's to dozens of activists, Broward County and municipal pols, concerned citizens and reporters.
None of these women, who run things at FairDistricts or are the head of the Florida LWV, or the heads of local South Florida LWV chapters ever responded.
Trust me, that simple fact that didn't go un-noticed or un-commented upon by me or most of the other people who received a copy of that email, and who still have the copy with the names of the women who weren't up to the task.
They could have discussed what some of the more difficult parameters would be for state legislators to square, as well as some of the more parochial factors to consider as well.
But instead of doing something positive, they did nothing.
Who knows, perhaps they were afraid of everyone catching on to the fact that many of the well-known African-Americans and Hispanics in this state who claimed to support the passage of Amendments 5 and 6, frankly, didn't seem to have much of a problem with the absurdity of Corrine Brown's FL-3 CD that currently stretches from Jacksonville to almost Orlando, perhaps, because she's an African-American.
But instead of doing something positive, they did nothing.
Who knows, perhaps they were afraid of everyone catching on to the fact that many of the well-known African-Americans and Hispanics in this state who claimed to support the passage of Amendments 5 and 6, frankly, didn't seem to have much of a problem with the absurdity of Corrine Brown's FL-3 CD that currently stretches from Jacksonville to almost Orlando, perhaps, because she's an African-American.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/orlando_opinionators/2011/09/propublica-calls-out-corrine-brown-on-redistricting.html
This, despite the fact that her gerrymandered CD is and was perhaps the worst in the entire country and the poster child for what was wrong in this state and a reason to vote for Amendment 6..
This, despite the fact that her gerrymandered CD is and was perhaps the worst in the entire country and the poster child for what was wrong in this state and a reason to vote for Amendment 6..
Yes, another case of convenient outrage for some while they traffic in everyday hypocrisy.
As if that wasn't pathetic enough, these very same groups that complained for months NEVER actually submitted their own map proposals before the final deadline, despite being plenty of opportunities.
That would be NEVER as in EVER.
That would be NEVER as in EVER.
That's an unfortunate and dispiriting fact you didn't see emphasized in any of the accounts you ever saw or read on Channel 4, 6, 7 and 10, or in the Miami Herald or South Florida Sun-Sentinel, despite the fact that is was very important, since it showed that FairDistricts' and the League of Women Voters efforts for months was nothing more than bluffing.
So why didn't the South Florida or statewide MSM ever emphasize this?
Why?
That's good question, but then again, it's not for nothing that none of them was awarded a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for their news coverage the past year, is it?
No, you can tell why that's so everyday when you read the local newspapers or watch TV newscasts, that's no accident!
Most fair-minded people I know who supported the FairDistrict amendments thought that the failure to make an example out of Brown's CD would show that FairDistricts, despite winning at the ballot box, wasn't prepared to do the things necessary to show how serious they were.
Hmm-mm... and what happened to Brown's CD?
Oh, right, from FairDistricts and the League of Women Voters, nothing, since they submitted no maps..
But the state legislature decided that her snake-like district was no longer acceptable.
http://censusvalidator.blob.core.windows.net/mydistrictbuilderdata/Graphics/Enacted%20Congressional%20Districts.pdf
More on Brown here:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/03/corrine_brown_and_the_forgotten_innocent.html
But the state legislature decided that her snake-like district was no longer acceptable.
http://censusvalidator.blob.core.windows.net/mydistrictbuilderdata/Graphics/Enacted%20Congressional%20Districts.pdf
More on Brown here:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/03/corrine_brown_and_the_forgotten_innocent.html
