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Millions of dollars have been flowing from left-wing interests outside the state to support FairDistrictsFlorida.org, the elections redistricting campaign. Count the likes of left-wing financier George Soros, national labor unions such as SEIU and the controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) among its contributors.
Miami attorney Ellen Freidin, who co-chaired John Kerry's presidential campaign in Florida in 2004, heads FairDistrictsFlorida.
Proposed state constitutional Amendments 5 and 6 would change how the redistricting process works in Florida by setting constitutionally mandated standards for drawing legislative and congressional district lines.
Critics claim the result will be a confusing set of state and federal standards leading to litigation and judicial determination of voting districts. And that may be what liberals ultimately want.
One key standard requires districts be compact to eliminate gerrymandering.
But an academic study co-authored by Jowei Chen of the University of Michigan and Stanford University's Jonathan Rodden, refutes Freidin's group's main claim: that partisan gerrymandering in 2002 led to the Legislature and Florida's congressional delegation being dominated by Republicans even though Democrat voters outnumber Republicans voters. See the study at www.stanford.edu/~jrodden/chen_rodden_florida.pdf.
That 45-page study, subtitled, “Why Compact, Contiguous Districts are Bad for the Democrats,” points out that it's the fact that Democrats are concentrated in compact urban areas where they win big — but mostly lose in suburban and rural areas — that causes what FairDistrictsFlorida mistakenly blames on gerrymandering. The change could also cost minorities their representation, which explains why many African-American and Hispanic legislators, and U.S. Rep. Corinne Brown, D-Jacksonville, oppose it.
The study's authors conclude that, “The best hope for Democrats to reclaim the Florida Congressional delegation or state legislature is to insist on a districting scheme that minimizes the importance of compactness.” But that's the opposite of what Amendments 5 and 6 seek to do.
So Coffee Talk asked state Rep. Keith Fitzgerald, D-Sarasota, also a political science professor at New College, what he thought of the study. Fitzgerald, who supports the amendments, and has read the study, referred to it as “a good study,” “a carefully done study,” and said, “It's a really good study.”
But then, Fitzgerald told Coffee Talk, “The Fair Districts people have tried to get me not to talk about that study.”
Fitzgerald says it wasn't Freidin who tried to put the gag on him, but wouldn't name names. Freidin admitted that she hadn't read the study though she was aware of it.
Apparently, it's not relevant, though Fitzgerald says, “Democrats are going to be sorely disappointed.” No doubt those will include those multi-million dollar contributors.
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