FairDistricts Florida and its supporters say Amendments 5 and 6 will put an end to the way incumbents draw voting district lines every 10 years. But opponents say the rigid requirements would make the Legislature's job of redistricting nearly impossible and have potentially unintended consequences.
"How about I just ask everyone to stand up," said incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos to a crowd of about 200 Florida Chamber of Commerce members. "Line up in alphabetical order by height, weight and age -- that's literally what's happening here."
The crowd chuckled at the analogy, but Haridopolos says there are serious challenges with the proposal. Earlier this year he tried to put an additional amendment on the ballot that would modify 5 and 6, but the courts rejected it.
The summary of Amendments 5 and 6 as they will appear on the ballot reads as follows:
Congressional districts or districting plans may not be drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party. Districts shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice. Districts must be contiguous. Unless otherwise required, districts must be compact, as equal in population as feasible, and where feasible must make use of existing city, county and geographical boundaries.
"There are few things more hazardous in politics than a bad idea that sounds good," said Rep. Dean Cannon, the House speaker designee. "I like FairDistricts, but the premise is flawed and the structure is flawed."
Haridopolos and Cannon say the FairDistricts' premise is flawed because it assumes the reason districts have such sprawling shapes, and Republicans are in the majority because incumbents draw districts to favor themselves.
Video: Watch interview with Dean Cannon on Amendments 5 and 6
In Cannon's view, the imbalance is reflective of voters who simply choose not to always vote along their party lines. He took the two U.S. Senate seats and four Cabinet seats in Florida as an example. Four of the six are Republican.
"Now you can't accuse us of drawing the state of Florida in some peculiar configuration," said Cannon. "Voters have crossed party lines. Voters are smart. They choose among candidates and they differentiate."
But Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, sees it differently.
"[He's] right about the state, but the districts are different," he said. "The districts are skewed to only elect one member of a party -- to elect either a Democrat or a Republican. There are very few competitive districts left."
Aronberg is one of FairDistricts' strongest voices in support of Amendments 5 and 6. He says his district, which stretches from West Palm Beach to Fort Myers and down to Naples, is an example of gerrymandering.
"This is the typical game of incumbents trying to make a fake argument; trying to scare people into rejecting this and make people believe the current system, the status quo, is somehow better," Aronberg said.
FairDistricts' claims support by more than 50 nonpartisan Florida organizations -- including League of Women Voters, AARP, NAACP and Democracia Ahora -- but they receive most of their financial support from unions,including $500,000 from the Florida Education Association and $250,000 from the SEIU labor union.
They describe their purpose as working to establish constitutional rules to stop politicians from drawing districts to favor themselves. They accuse politicians, particularly Republicans, of manipulating district boundaries to keep themselves and their friends in power by drawing lines based on voter registration records.
Opponents of the amendments say, ultimately, the FairDistricts' requirements would make it so convoluted that anyone can take it to a judge claiming it doesn't meet requirements.
If the courts twice strike down the FairDistricts' attempt, the Constitution says the Florida Supreme Court would then have to draw the map itself.
"That's one of the basic premises of our federal republic, that courts don't make political decisions; and yet 5 and 6, left unchecked, may result in courts drawing political districts."
Aronberg argues that would still be better than the alternative.
"I'd rather have the courts draw the lines than the politicians themselves," he said. "Do you think it's a better system to have incumbents draw their own districts? It's a terrible system."
Cannon says he and Haridopolos asked those who drafted the amendments to explain some of the seemingly contradictory requirements. He says they refused to give an answer.
"The fact that the drafters wouldn't explain how they would work to the legislative branch that would be governed by them -- that raised a red flag," Cannon said.
He added that because support of the amendments is primarily funded by trial lawyers and unions, "that sends up a red flag, too, that there's sort of a partisan motive behind them."
Lane Wright can be reached at lane@sunshinestatenews.com or at (561) 247-1063.
