The FL redistricting story you NEVER saw in the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, or on local Miami TV -who was Missing-in-Action?

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?

http://www.flsenate.gov/committees/show/RE

http://www.flsenate.gov/PublishedContent/Committees/2010-2012/RE/MeetingRecords/RE11152011.pdf

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

http://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/Show/RE/MeetingNotice/1626

http://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/Show/RE/ExpandedAgenda/1626

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.

http://miami.cbslocal.com/tag/redistricting/

Channel 6/WTVJ-TV

The NBC affiliate has two generic stories since last December, no video.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/results/?keywords=redistricting&sort=date&timeline=past_12_months&adv=y

Channel 7/WSVN-TV

The FOX affiliate has one story on their website, from August 15th, with no video.

http://www.wsvn.com/search?q=redistricting

Channel 10/WPLG-TV

The ABC affiliate has two stories on their website

http://www.local10.com/page/search/pns-mia/-/1717430/-/view/asSearch/-/k0ikalz/-/index.html?provider=site&cx=partner-pub-1569153127812452%3A6n1nw8-otn0&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=redistricting&sortBy=score

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.

http://www.local10.com/news/Two-of-three-proposed-redistricting-maps-released/-/1717324/4835620/-/sgi0ebz/-/index.html

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.

http://www.flsenate.gov/

http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Redistricting/

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 Plan

• Maps and Statistics
• PCB 7032 Bill Page
• PCB 7032 Bill Analysis (PDF)

Senate Plan

• Maps and Statistics
• PCB 7034 Bill Page
• PCB 7034 Bill Analysis (PDF)
• -----

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

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/change-ahead-for-u-s-rep-rooney-state-1999653.html

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!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/no-fair-districts-here-surprise-naacps.html

http://youtu.be/ScCwrMXAFXQ

-----

http://www.youtube.com/user/ScottFortune4U

http://www.youtube.com/user/MyDistrictBuilderFL

Upcoming Florida redistricting hearings in Broward & Miami-Dade Counties in mid-August; sadly, lack of local forums by civic groups is par for course

Scott Fortune - A Horribly Gerrymandered Congressional District

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2l4WUZ_lcE

What follows below are selected excerpts of an email I sent on Tuesday to someone who's deeply involved in the 2012 redistricting issue in Florida that's already well underway.

Perhaps it will give some of you on the sidelines some insight into what is -and isn't- happening right now, which, in my opinion, is not nearly enough.

As most of you who read this blog even fairly know, I was and am a very strong supporter of FairDistricts and voted FOR Amendments 5 and 6. http://fairdistrictsnow.org

Following that I have included here some helpful information I received late on Friday afternoon from Benjamin M. Fairbrother of the Florida House of Representatives Redistricting Comm. regarding the upcoming meetings.

To get you into the spirit of things, I'm reprising here two great videos by former congressional candidate Scott Fortune that I previously have used in the last two lengthy posts I had about redistricting, the first video of which is up at the top.

In 2010, Fortune ran in the Democratic primary against mendacious, mean-spirited and gerrymandered to a fair-thee-well Rep. Corrine Brown, one of the two current Florida congresspersons suing to keep things status quo in this state -FUBAR- so that they and their ilk can continue to avoid genuine accountability in congressional elections that are actually competitive, and with them, real discussion about issues, not repetition of talking points.

That much-discussed gerrymandered CD, FL-3, stretches from the Jacksonville area to north of Orlando, as you can see here.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL&district=3

The reasons it looks that way are described here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida's_3rd_congressional_district

The odd size and irregular shapes of many Florida congressional districts -CDs- is a subject I wrote often (and frustrated) about last year, esp. FL-17, where I live, two miles east of the Atlantic Ocean in Broward County, repped by someone -Frederica Wilson- in a CD that has as its political center an area in another county, northwest of downtown Miami, that shares few of the everyday concerns that people in Hallandale Beach and Hollywood have.

Map: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL&district=17

Scott Fortune - Gerrymandering in Mt. Dora, Fla.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXpxdmU7s54

See Scott Fortune's other eye-opening videos on gerrymandering in Florida at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ScottFortune4U

a.) October 25, 2010 New TV ad from FairDistrictsFlorida.org; FL-17 and Corrine Brown's FL-3 are embarrassing embodiment of what unchecked gerrymandering gets you

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-tv-ad-from-fairdistrictsfloridaorg.html

b.) June 14, 2011 Florida's 2012 redistricting meetings in South Florida are only two months away, so where are the competing maps? Or the pre-event info meetings?

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/floridas-2012-redistricting-meetings-in.html

-----

My excerpt starts with what was the second or third paragraph, after some general pleasantries:

Having grown-up down here before leaving for college at Indiana, I know full well how brutal August is for people living down here, A/C or no A/C, both in terms of the actual weather, latent concerns about hurricanes, plus, juggling vacations, kids camps, or even weddings or company outings or conventions.

Some people, maybe even most people, just want to do nothing in August except stay cool, keep their hurricane supplies handy and watch sports or catch a movie.

(I should know.)

I get that, really I do, still, I'm mystified that even in apathetic South Florida, where people with civic-minded natures are few-and-far-between, so many groups down here who, in my opinion ought to be filling-in the vacuum and showing some strong public interest in mobilizing their supporters or members in attending and actively participating in the upcoming meetings or something along the lines of what I'm suggesting in terms of an education outreach -so they can be exposed to various map scenarios- are NOT rising to the fore.

At least not to the point of actually announcing public plans for something tangible, and we're now just over two weeks away from those meetings.

If people don't know a week in advance, what's the point, since the percentage who can then attend is clearly much less than it could be?

Since I have a Google Alert for "redistricting," I see everything on redistricting, not just here in FL, but across the country for various govt. entities.

When you see what other communities are doing and how everyone down here is just snoozing...

Today's Sun-Sentinel finally had something decent, mentioning what the Broward League of Women Voters are doing on Saturday in Davie

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/08/voter_league_explains_why_peop_1.html

but again, where are the other groups?

That said, to be honest, I'm less than crazy that Davie is the site for Broward's one and only official redistricting meeting.

That is not at all centrally-located or even convenient to get to.

It's hard not to get the impression because of the reasons you and many others have so ably articulated in the past -foremost, lack of maps at the meetings- that many State Senators involved in the process are no doubt chuckling to themselves that they've created a scenario that is the ultimate win-win for them -the pretense of transparency with none of the messy details having to come up at the meetings.

And everything gets settled in Tallahassee.

------

From: MyDistrictBuilder
Date: Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 4:50 PM
Subject: Email Update - Florida House Redistricting - August 5, 2011
To: MyDistrictBuilder

Florida House of Representatives – House Redistricting Committee

Redistricting Update – August 5, 2011

Location Change for the August 29 Tampa Redistricting Meeting

Due to expected attendance, the location for the August 29^th Florida redistricting meeting in Tampa has changed to: Jefferson High School Auditorium, 4401 Cypress Street, Tampa, Florida 33607. Jefferson High School has plenty of free parking, close proximity to a bus stop, and more seating than the original downtown location. We think it will be much more convenient for the public. Persons who pre-registered (RSVP) to attend/speak at the Tampa meeting will be receiving and email or letter that confirms the change of address.

Public Submissions of Redistricting Maps and Suggestions

Via www.floridaredistricting.org, you can access our Plan Explorer site to view, comment on and share redistricting suggestions submitted by Florida residents. The site highlights proposed maps for Florida’s State House, State Senate and congressional districts. Of the 23 maps submitted by Florida residents thus far, 20 were created with the Florida House’s MyDistrictBuilder^TM application. For your convenience, all 23 submissions received thus far are listed below, along with links to written suggestions that were submitted to the House.

· Plan 0023 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Orange, Osceola and Polk counties

· Plan 0022 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Lake, Marion and Sumter counties

· Plan 0021 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Lake, Marion and Sumter counties

· Plan 0020 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0019 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0018 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting 34 North Florida counties

· Plan 0017 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Orange, Osceola and Polk counties

· Plan 0016 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Sumter counties

· Plan 0015 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Citrus, Lake, Orange and Sumter counties

· Plan 0014 – Partial plan for the State Senate, affecting Citrus, Lake and Sumter counties

· Plan 0013 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting Lake County

· Plan 0012 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties

· Plan 0011 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting Lake County

· Plan 0010 – Partial plan for the State Senate, affecting Citrus, Lake, Orange and Sumter counties

· Plan 0009 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Lake and Seminole counties

· Plan 0008 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Lake, Orange and Sumter counties

· Plan 0007 – Complete plan for the State Senate

· Plan 0006 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0005 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0004 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0003 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0002 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting Brevard and Volusia counties

· Plan 0001 – Complete plan for Congress

· Written suggestions – Congress

· Written suggestions – State House

· Written suggestions – State Senate

Along with the feedback from the Legislature’s 26 public input meetings throughout Florida, these maps and written suggestions will constitute the starting point for redistricting when legislators return to Tallahassee in the fall of 2011 for committee meetings.

Upcoming Meetings

The complete Florida redistricting public meeting calendar (attached) can be found by visiting: http://www.floridaredistricting.org/. The remainder of public input meeting calendar includes meetings at the following locations:

· Stuart – August 15

· Boca Raton – August 16

· Davie – August 16

· Miami – August 17

· South Miami – August 17

· Key West – August 18

· Tampa – August 29

· Largo – August 30

· Sarasota – August 30

· Naples – August 31

· Lehigh Acres – August 31

· Clewiston – September 1

As always, if you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

Benjamin M. Fairbrother

House Redistricting Committee

Florida House of Representatives

400 House Office Building

O: (850) 921-8831

www.floridaredistricting.org

Create and Submit Redistricting Plans with MyDistrictBuilder

MyDistrictBuilder^TM @ Facebook

MyDistrictBuilder^TM @ Twitter

MyDistrictBuilder^TM @ YouTube

Blog & Resources @ WordPress

Questions or Comments, email: mydistrictbuilder@myfloridahouse.gov

-----

New TV ad from FairDistrictsFlorida.org; FL-17 and Corrine Brown's FL-3 are embarrassing embodiment of what unchecked gerrymandering gets you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjqZDGQGu4I

-----

If passed, legislative districts would have to be contiguous and compact wherever possible, following pre-existing city and county boundaries.

This very simple TV ad is a nice rebuke to the pro-incumbent nonsense that has animated many of the newspaper articles and columns I've read the past few months, where reporters and columnists seem to foolishly imagine that they can explain the situation better with words, rather than a simple map -they can't.

They will NEVER be able to beat an accurate map for conveying the sheer preposterous nature of the way legislative districts are currently drawn by insiders.

But for some unfathomable reason, perhaps the epidemic of terrible news editing raging across the state's newspapers -with particular damage in South Florida- the simple act of displaying accurate representations of the districts is almost always missing from these stories and columns, even links to such on their newspaper websites and political blogs, despite how easy it is to show.
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/2010/06/corrine-brown-and-mr-gerry-mandering.html

That's why I have taken it upon myself to actually provide links to these maps when I have chosen to comment on various news sites on this subject so that others can see them for themselves, absent the newspaper doing this basic thing.

A simple map of the districts is like cold water being tossed into the faces of folks like Rep, Corrine Brown, the erratic woman whose equally erratic and bizarre northeast Florida nine-county congressional district stretches from Jacksonville to north of Orlando, often only about the length of a few blocks for quite a distance.

Why was that done?
Simple -to keep her in Congress.

As I've written here many times before, it's the very same reason that FL-17, where I live and currently have Kendrick Meek as a rep in Washington for a few more days, was drawn up the way it was.
The CD snakes its way from Liberty City in Miami then goes northwest to Opa-Locka and then jumps across the Broward County line, including the part of Hallandale Beach that's west of U.S.-1.

Or, counter-intuitively, why the other part of Hallandale Beach, which includes the towering condos on the beach along State Road A1A, which are actually FARTHER AWAY from Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's FL-20 congressional base of support out in Pembroke Pines
than I am, STILL end up being represented by her instead of Meek.

The current FL-17 was drawn specifically to ensure that there were enough African-American voters in a Miami-based district so that Carrie Meek could win a Congressional seat -and stay in office indefinitely.
And in a tragic case of unintended consequences, give it to her son Kendrick as an inheritance.

This sort of chicanery and mutuality of interests among Democrats also ensured that liberal Jewish Democratic voters in SE Broward would largely be able to vote for someone else,
Someone NOT named Meek.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL&district=17, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL&district=20

How gerrymandering sustains political dynasties
http://progreso-weekly.com/2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1999:how-gerrymandering-sustains-political-dynasties&catid=34:our-pulse-florida&Itemid=53

Logically, FL-17 should include only Miami-Dade voters and should've always had a MUCH higher representation of Hispanic voters than it has, since they are the majority of citizens and voters in Miami-Dade County.
And yet it didn't, did it?

Perhaps once these common sense Amendments are passed, local and congressional legislative districts will FINALLY and accurately reflect the common sense realities of the mutuality of interests of citizens in compact districts, not merely be odd-shaped stains on a map to allow incumbents to get enough supporters to stay in office indefinitely.

This will surely be the last time that FL-17 looks the way it does now.
Adios and good riddance!

For more on combative Rep. Corrine Brown, please see:

Corrine Brown: Because This Senate Race Needs Some Crazy http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2009/06/corrine_brown_because_this_sen.php

Local radio host, Rep. Corrine Brown have an on-air shouting match
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/403455/david-hunt/2010-06-10/girl-fight-or-we-saw-gerrymandering-hit-soft-spot


Opponent disputes Corrine Brown's district.
Documentary says boundaries formed by gerrymandering.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-06-01/story/opponent-disputes-browns-district-gerrymandered

Scott Fortune - A Horribly Gerrymandered Congressional District



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2l4WUZ_lcE


Scott Fortune - Gerrymandering in Mt. Dora, Fla.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXpxdmU7s54

See Scott Fortune's other eye-opening videos on gerrymandering in Florida at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ScottFortune4U

Here's another mention of Brown from an excerpt of a recent email I received from the FairDistrictsFlorida.org folks, since I'm on their mailing list by choice.

--------Forwarded Message----------
From: Kelly Penton, Kelly.Penton@fairdistrictsflorida.org
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:45:45 -0400 (EDT)
To: Jackie Lee, Jackie.Lee@fairdistrictsflorida.org
Subject: Say NO to self-interested politicians!


Have you seen FairDistricts’ television ad? Have you read that every major Florida newspaper is supporting Amendments 5 & 6? Have you heard about the latest polls that show we are on track to finally put an end to unfair redistricting?

Well, our opponents must have. The politicians, clinging to the luxury of picking their own voters, are burning up the airwaves trying to confuse voters and convince them that Amendments 5 & 6 are not in Floridians’ best interest.

State Senator Mike Haridopolos has been pumping defamatory op-eds into Florida papers, Congresswoman Corrine Brown has been all over YouTube spreading her message of opposition, and Congressman Diaz-Balart even showed up at our press conference trying to negate our message.

It’s not a coincidence that those who object to Amendments 5 & 6 are the very politicians who will face greater competition in their elections when 5 & 6 are in the Florida Constitution. When Amendments 5 & 6 pass, voters in Florida will regain the power to hold legislators accountable. Right now, redistricting guarantees victory for incumbents – No wonder politicians object!

I have learned to never underestimate the power of self-interested politicians.

Thanks,
Kelly Penton

Communications Director
FairDistrictsFlorida.org
VOTE YES on AMENDMENTS 5 & 6

--------

http://www.fairdistrictsflorida.org/home.php

A Clean Sweep for Amendments 5 & 6!

FairDistrictsFlorida Press Release
Friday Oct 22, 2010

Every Major Florida Newspaper Endorses the FairDistricts Amendments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 22, 2010
Contact: Kelly Penton, 786-258-2649 Kelly@FairDistrictsFlorida.org

Miami, FL— Today, the Florida Times-Union recommended that “voters should support the reasonable Amendments 5 and 6,” making it a clean sweep of endorsements from major newspapers across the state. A total of 22 newspapers have urged Floridians to vote YES on FairDistricts Amendments 5 and 6.

“This could very well be the one issue this election season with unanimous support from all major newspapers across the state,” said FairDistrictsFlorida.org Campaign Chair Ellen Freidin. “Each newspaper agrees-- politicians have been using redistricting as a way to protect their own seats, making backroom deals and handpicking the voters that will most likely support them to be in their districts. Amendments 5 and 6 will stop this selfish practice, once and for all.”

The FairDistricts Amendments have even received national attention, with an editorial today in USA Today supporting efforts in Florida, California and Oklahoma, and stating “All these plans would benefit voters and the public interest.”

Since September, endorsements have been rolling in one-by-one from:
Bradenton Herald
Bradenton Times
Florida Today
Ft. Myers News-Press
Gainesville Sun
Highlands Today
Naples Daily News
Northwest Florida Daily News
Ocala Star Banner
Orlando Sentinel
Palm Beach Post
Panama City News Herald
Pensacola News Journal
Sarasota Herald Tribune
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
St. Petersburg Times
Suwannee Democrat
Tallahassee Democrat
Tampa Tribune
The Florida Times-Union
TCPalm
The Miami Herald

They all say that by voting yes on Amendments 5 and 6, Floridians will create rules for politicians when they redraw district lines, to make sure they protect voters’ best interests, not their own. With voter approval, the amendments will: prohibit politicians from drawing districts to benefit themselves or their parties, while requiring them to make districts compact, contiguous, and follow city/county lines, where feasible. In addition, the amendments will inscribe into the State Constitution strong protections for minority voting rights, for the first time ever.

To read each endorsement, or for more information on Amendments 5 and 6, please visit www.fairdistrictsflorida.org

-----

See veteran CBS News reporter Bill Plante interviews director Jeff Reichert, the writer and director of Gerrymandering at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RtKwhd60Q8
Sorry, that's not available for me to show here, but you can click the link above to go to CBSNewsOnline and view it.

But I do have the trailer for Reichert's documentary.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kurAB5ridko

See also:
http://www.opencongress.org

http://www.govtrack.us/

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd

http://www.sarasotaspeaks.com/node/71394

http://www.youtube.com/user/ScottFortune4U

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/may/31/florida-redistricting-attracts-amendments-lawsuits/news-breaking/