I've been collecting petition signatures for Common Cause's effort to stop gerrymandering in Florida. You can find out more about this at the website FairDistrictsFlorida.org or check out an earlier post of mine.
Last week I took advantage of living in Tallahassee and went over to visit the Common Cause office. I mainly wanted to just find out if I could drop off the petitions I collected since mailing them off to the P.O. Box in Ft. Lauderdale was getting expensive.
More Below.
While there I was able to talk with Ben Wilcox, a Florida hero of the progressive movement and someone we should all honor for his selfless devotion to the cause.
I asked Ben why the Florida Democratic Party wasn't more out front in supporting this initiative since they obviously have the most to gain, especially considering what happened to Party Chair Karen Thurman in 2002.
After the 2000 census, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature reconfigured the 5th so it was virtually coextensive with the State Senate district of that body's President Pro Tem, Ginny Brown-Waite. Nonetheless, Thurman ran for reelection. Even though the redrawn district had gone narrowly for George W. Bush in 2000 (Al Gore had won her old district handily), Thurman just barely lost to Brown-Waite.
Ben answered that Common Cause had approached some people in the party during the first unsuccessful effort at getting a redistricting initiative on the ballot. But the outcome was disappointing.
Ben very diplomatically explained that there were elements in the party that benefited from Republican gerrymandering because it gave them very safe districts to run in. (BTW, he said this completely without rancor. I tell you, the man's a saint!)
I thanked him for his time and came home and let that bit of information percolate through my psyche. Then, out of the blue, Pres. Bush gives an interview and says that what's wrong with politics in this country is gerrymandering and how it protects incumbency, which leads to complacency and corruption.
(Damn, Dubya said that? Oh yeah, I forgot. Democrats have a stranglehold on Congress right now.)
And then, the big controversy over the DCCC and support for the South Florida Democratic challengers to Republican seats came up. This was so contentious that it made its way to the Front Page via Brownsox and then DavidNYC:
Look, at some level, I understand not wanting to campaign against your friends. I do. I also understand that the Florida delegation has long had a non-aggression pact, and that Wasserman Schultz broke tradition by campaigning against Clay Shaw in 2006.
But as co-chair of Red to Blue, Wasserman Schultz isn't an ordinary Rep. In her capacity at the DCCC, her chief responsibility, her highest priority, is to do whatever it takes to win, in every district we have a chance at winning.
If it makes you a jerk to campaign against your friends and neighbors, fine. You've got to be bloody ruthless if you're serious about maximizing Democratic gains. If you're not prepared to do that, that's OK, but maybe the DCCC job isn't for you. Surely it's not for everyone.
And I can assure you, we aren't just unhappy at Debbie's refusal to help Raul Martinez, Annette Taddeo and Joe Garcia. We're pissed that, for no reason at all, she went to the Miami Herald and told the paper:
"I can't say enough good things about Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; she has been my friend since I was first elected to office."
We're pissed that she's now decided to follow some ridiculous, hoary tradition that she had no problem abandoning two years ago. And we're pissed that she's fomenting discord and damaging morale among local Dems, too. And all this coming from an important leader at the DCCC. (Though don't think we've forgotten about Kendrick Meek, too.)
But the real issue is this quote from the original Miami Herald article.
Both Meek and Wasserman Schultz have benefited from a close affiliation with the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, which since its founding in 2003 has contributed $22,000 to Wasserman Schultz's campaign committee and $10,500 to Meek's.
Wasserman Schultz said the PAC support played no role in her decision, but she acknowledges she's closer to the Republican incumbents on Cuba issues than she is to the Democratic challengers, who favor easing restrictions on family travel to the island.
Now, I’m not saying Debbie Dubya and Meek are corrupt, or that it’s wrong to take money from PACs. In fact, I’ve often argued that a congressional candidate who doesn’t know how to raise a decent amount of money from PACs should not be considered a viable candidate, no matter how much you like his or her politics
But when PAC donations and single issue politics lead to favoring Republicans over Democrats in congressional races, then there’s a definite problem. That’s the kind of stuff that Kos was talking about in Crashing the Gate.
Do I need to draw the connection as to the cause of this complacency about party accountability? Debbie Dubya and Kendrick Meek are in those safe, gerrymandered seats.
The reason I asked Ben about FDP involvement in Fair Districts Florida was that I had what I thought was a good idea for Democratic challengers to Republican held congressional and legislative seats:
All each candidate needs to do is call a press conference (or make a commercial) where they hold up a large picture of their district and ask the rhetorical question "Why does our district have such a funny shape?" They then say, "I'll tell you why, it's because of partisan politics." And continue thus:
I am choosing to support Common Cause's non-partisan effort to stop gerrymandering in Florida. I have signed their petitions to get state constitutional amendments setting guidelines for the legislature to follow when it redistricts the state every ten years after the census. We need to make sure that voters choose politicians rather than the other way around.
I challenge my opponent to also sign and support these petitions.
It is time that our representatives in Washington and in Tallahassee start doing the People's business, rather than just partisan political bickering. We need to turn the page on The Same Old Politics. It's time for a change.
I thought this was a shoo-in idea for someone like Suzanne Kosmas who is running against Tom Feeney, since Feeney drew his own district after the 2000 reapportionment.
Another blogger recently told me that Joe Garcia has actually mentioned in campaign speeches that his opponent, Mario Diaz-Balart did the same thing.
I would encourage more Florida candidates to bring up this issue and also, while doing so, call attention to Common Cause's effort, like I suggest, in order to get the initiative on the ballot and passed.
It is clear to me that progressives can use this issue as a litmus test as to who in the Florida Democratic Party is interested in promoting issues which support greater citizen participation in the electoral process and which ones are simply party hacks, looking to primarily protect their own interests.
While I’m not interesting in running primary candidates against Debbie Dubya or Meek right now, I do think it is important to call them out on it. I understand that implementing a truly progressive agenda consists first of replacing Republicans with Democrats and then replacing the Democrats with Better Democrats.
At least we can shame Democrats about transparency and accountability. Republicans will just laugh at you.
Here in Florida we need to bring up the redistricting issue with EVERY Democratic politician. We need to keep our eye on anyone who brushes it off as unimportant.
Chairwoman Thurman, as someone who has suffered from redistricting, I challenge you to come out and support this effort. If you remain silent and this effort fails, you will be complicit in condemning your party to minority status for several decades.
Is the FDP truly the Party For People or, just like the Republicans, is it only a party for politics.
And hey, Empty Chair Charlie, how about you, Mr. People's Governor? Where do you stand on this? I mean, if the likes of the real Dubya can come out against gerrymandering, why can't you?