The Florida Senate violates the Constitution, lies about it, then admits what it did ... but don't worry, we'll call another special session and fix it ... I don't care which party is in the majority -- even my own, as it happens -- the Senate has acted reprehensibly and, more important, illegally.
In drawing unconstitutional districts that now have to be drawn again in a special session beginning in October, senators have to prove to the court their redrawn boundaries are constitutional.
Never mind the legal mumbo-jumbo in the agreement the Senate signed. It was an admission of guilt -- an effort to escape with as little damage as possible, maybe -- but an admission nonetheless.
What happened is simple. Senators got caught up in the culture of power that comes with party domination. They forgot who they work for. Same thing happened to the Democrats before 1994.
I haven't talked to Don Gaetz about this yet, but I feel certain the former Senate president -- an honorable man, shown in his official portrait holding Senate Bill 2, the Ethics Bill -- will agree:
The Senate owes the people of Florida an apology.
The Constitution isn't a suggestion box. It's the law of this state. If the men and women we elect to office aren't going to abide by it, what chance is there for the rest of us?
Fair Districts Florida sponsored Amendments 5 and 6 on the 2010 Florida ballot looking to reform the way legislative and congressional district lines are drawn. That year the Republican Party chose to spend its money getting Rick Scott elected governor instead of working to defeat 5 and 6. Party leaders made their choice. Voters overwhelmingly approved the amendments on Nov. 2, 2010.
The Republican Senate figured they could have it both ways.
Senators can't say they weren't warned. The League of Women Voters and Common Cause have been nipping at their heels for the last three years.
Wednesday's agreement between the Legislature and Fair Districts' supporters is virtually a capitulation that ends badly for Florida's upper chamber.
Few in the Senate have clean hands -- even Democrats like Maria Sachs and Arthenia Joyner who made sure their districts were protected.
But for the Republicans, expect this to be costly in ways most of them haven't begun to contemplate. And I'm not jut talking about the more than $6.7 million since July 2009 spent on the redistricting process, or if opponents of the Senate's maps win a court order for the Legislature to pay their legal bills, estimated at $1 million.
A clear winner among the chaos is House Speaker Steve Crisafulli. He is the beneficiary of former Speaker Will Weatherford's refusal to get caught up in consultants' machinations during the redistricting process. Now Crisafulli goes into his second year and January session, not as a lame duck with an illegal redistricting taint, but with a strong wind behind his back.
Again I'll say it: I hope the Republican Senate will take the first step to acknowledge the sanctity of the Florida Constitution and the understanding that they did wrong. I hope members will issue an honest public apology to the people of Florida.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
