[Tallahassee, FL] State Senate Reapportionment Chairman Don Gaetz (R-4/Niceville) apologized Friday for using hanging imagery in reference to lawsuits challenging new maps for legislative and congressional districts approved Thursday by the Senate.

“My father used to say, ‘Some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope,’” Gaetz said Thursday, referring to his belief that some groups planned to sue no matter what maps the Legislature drew.

On Friday, Gaetz apologized after three black lawmakers angrily said the remarks were insensitive.

“I’m sorry if any offense was taken,” Gaetz said. “Those who know me and those who work with me are well aware that no offense was meant.”

Among those calling for Sen, Don Gaetz to apologize was Sen. Arthenia Joyner (D-18/Tampa), the Minority Leader Pro Tempore.

“The use of his analogy reflects back on an extremely violent period in our country’s and our state’s history,” Joyner said Friday. “And it shows an insensitivity on the part of the Senator about the hard-fought passage of Blacks from slaves to citizens.”

The remark also brought a sharp response from two high-ranking black House Democrats.

“The senator’s comment is especially appalling given that it is made in connection to the issue of redistricting, in which there is considerable history of racial minorities being deprived of adequate representation,” said Rep. Perry Thurston (D-93/Plantation) slated to become the House’s top Democrat later this year.

Rep. Mia Jones, a Jacksonville Democrat representing District 14 who chairs the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, also slammed Gaetz.

“Senator Gaetz’ use of such highly charged and disturbing language has absolutely no place in this important discussion about the future of Florida,” she said.

Don Gaetz, whose 2006 election contributed to the Senate’s tilt to the right, has a history of saying colorful remarks, although none would be considered racist or racially incensitive.

Here’s a few of Gaetz’ greatest hits:

“Well, some things in history were revolutionary – like the Revolution.”

“Charlie Crist seems to have a spinning political compass with no true north.”

“The opinion of the Florida Legislature about offshore drilling is about as relevant as the opinion of the Lutherans about the selection of the next Pope.”

By: The News Service of Florida

Photo: Florida Senate

Don Gaetz

[Atlanta, GA] Corrine Brown lost her high-profile battle against the will of the Florida electorate. The “Fair Districts” amendment stands for now, anyway.

A federal appellate court on Tuesday upheld a 2010 constitutional amendment that attempts to ensure that congressional political districts are drawn fairly, rejecting an appeal backed by the Republican-led Florida Legislature.

In a 32-page ruling, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta rejected claims by U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican, and Brown, a Democrat, who challenged Amendment 6, one of the so-called “Fair Districts” amendments.

The amendment requires lawmakers to draw congressional boundaries that do not favor any party or particular candidate.

The Florida Legislature had joined the two members of Congress in the fight, with House Speaker Dean Cannon (R-35/Winter Park) choosing to appeal a September fair districts ruling by a federal district judge in Miami upholding the amendment, which was approved by 62.9% of voters in November 2010.

“The appellants claim that Amendment Six is unconstitutional because it was enacted by citizen initiative rather than by the state’s legislature in the ordinary legislative process,” Judge Stanley Marcus wrote for the court. “…We are unpersuaded.”

The Republican House and Senate have opposed the fair districts requirement since it was put on the ballot in 2010 by grassroots group FairDistrictsFlorida.org, along with another similar measure dealing with legislative districts, Amendment 5.

Photo: U.S. House of Rep.

U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart fought the “fair districts” amendment

The Legislature also passed counter amendments to try to nullify the proposals before they even were approved, though those were ultimately struck down by the Florida Supreme Court.

Brown (D-3/Jacksonville) and Diaz-Balart (R-21/Miami) filed the suit to scuttle Amendment 6. They argue it violates federal election law guaranteeing equal access for minority candidates. Some districts have essentially been gerrymandered to guarantee the election of a minority.

The Legislature joined in, arguing that the U.S. Constitution sets aside the task of redrawing the political boundaries for lawmakers, and that state voters can’t override that through the state’s constitution.

“All Amendment Six does is require the Legislature to account for some particular standards when conducting the complex task of drawing congressional district lines,” the federal appeals judges wrote. “States can and routinely do consider the very same factors when redistricting.”

Katherine Betta, spokeswoman for House Speaker Dean Cannon, said the speaker was reviewing the order.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R-26/Merritt Island) said it really didn’t’ t matter that much now – because, he argued, lawmakers have abided by the fair districts requirement anyway. The process of redrawing the maps is pretty far along – the House and Senate are both nearing votes on their respective proposals.

Photo: Mark Christopher/Sunshine Slate Images

State Senate President Mike Haridopolos on fair districts: “We followed Amendments 5 and 6″

“We followed Amendments 5 and 6 … we respected Amendments 5 and 6,” Haridopolos said late Tuesday. “We were working under the assumption that 5 and 6 were constitutional.”

Democratic leaders applauded the ruling.

“The attempt by Florida Republicans to overturn the will of the people in the federal courts has been thoroughly and rightfully rejected,” Florida Democratic Party chairman Rod Smith said in a statement following the opinion’s release. “It is time for the Republicans to stop wasting taxpayer dollars and start listening to the voters.”

While Brown, who is African-American, and Diaz-Balart, who is Hispanic, had argued that the voter approved standards would endanger districts drawn to help minorities achieve representation, not all minorities agreed. Several Democrats in the Florida Legislature, including a number of African-Americans, opposed the lawsuit.

State Sen. Arthenia Joyner (D-18/Tampa), who is African-American, was one who applauded the fair districts ruling.

“U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus rightly affirmed the power of the people to amend their constitution,” said Joyner, who also was an intervenor in the case, defending the constitutionality of the fair districts amendment.

“Amendment 6 may not give incumbents the districts they want, but it gives the voters the right to set the standards to elect the Congressional representatives of their choice,” she said.

By: Michael Peltier/The News Service of Florida

Lead image: Congress woman Corrine Brown. Photo: Mark Christopher/Sunshine Slate Images

fair districts

[Tallahassee, FL] The president of Florida A&M University (FAMU) said after a meeting with Gov. Rick Scott on Friday that he would consider stepping aside while the investigation into the hazing rituals and finances of the school’s famous “Marching 100″ band continues.

President James Ammons’ statement came on commencement day for FAMU, adding a touch of dissonance to a day on which Scott came under fire for his recommendation and Orange County medical examiners officially ruled the hazing death of Robert Champion a homicide.

Ammons and Scott met for about 40 minutes the day after the governor called for Ammons to be suspended at a special meeting of the FAMU board of trustees scheduled for Monday morning.

“He thought that it was in the best interest of the university and myself, that there wouldn’t be any questions about how the investigation would be carried out by stepping aside, letting the investigations be complete, and then come back after,” Ammons said.

Asked if he agreed with the governor’s recommendation, Ammons said: “It’s something that I’m considering.”

But Scott faced an onslaught of criticism from Florida A&M University students – hundreds of whom gathered outside the Governor’s Mansion on Thursday evening – and graduates of the school.

State Sen. Arthenia Joyner (D-18/Tampa) – the Minority Leader Pro Tempore – issued a scalding statement calling for Scott to back down.

“It’s particularly galling that the governor justifies his action as a way to assure people the university is fully cooperating,” Joyner said. “This is the same Rick Scott who had no similar compunction to immediately step aside as CEO of HCA when the FBI launched its probe into what became the largest health care fraud case ever in this country’s history.”

Photo: FL Senate

Sen. Arthenia Joyner of Tampa

Ammons was notably more muted after his meeting with Scott, calling it “a great conversation” and saying he believed the governor was looking out for FAMU.

“We all have the best interests of Florida A&M University at heart, and we’re all going to do what is best for the university,” Ammons said.

For his part, Scott showed no signs of backing away from his calls for Ammons’ temporary ouster.

“I believe that it’s in the best interest of the institution that he step aside at this point to make sure everybody’s comfortable that we have an investigation, that there’s complete cooperation, that it’s transparent,” Scott told reporters earlier in the day.

Orange County medical examiners, meanwhile, officially ruled Champion’s death a homicide, saying he went into shock following “multiple blunt trauma blows to his body.” In a statement following the report, Ammons and trustees Chairman Solomon Badger said the news was expected but “extremely upsetting.”

Champion, a 26-year-old band leader, died after what police say appears to have been a hazing following the annual Florida Classic football game between FAMU and Bethune Cookman on Nov. 19.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced Wednesday that its investigation in Champion’s death was widening to include the band’s finances.

The incident has turned into one of the first major public-relations tests of Scott’s administration, both in his decision to announce Thursday that he thought Ammons should step aside and in his response to the sometimes-raucous reaction to it by student protestors.

Scott reportedly riled some of the protestors when he tried to relate to the students by mentioning that he lived in public housing when he was younger – an anecdote that also offended black lawmakers at a meeting with the governor earlier this year, with some of them taking it as a suggestion that Scott believed that all blacks grow up poor.

It could also test his clout with the board of trustees, who will meet by telephone Monday morning to weigh Ammons’ fate again, after voting last week to reprimand the president but not place him on administrative leave.

“Any time the governor speaks, it creates pressure,” said former state Sen. Al Lawson, a Florida A&M University alumnus and prominent backer of the school, who met with Ammons and Scott. “And so, I think that it’s going to be a long weekend for them.”

By: Brandon Larrabee/The News Service of Florida

Lead image: FAMU presdient James Ammons speaks to reporters after meeting with Gov. Scott. Photo: Michael Peltier/The News Service of Florida

Florida A&M University