Senator Mikey (Mike Haridopolos R-FL26) tells Fair Districts FL organizer "look at me"

[ddeclue]

I saw this on Florida government television the other day:

This guy is a real arrogant rude jackass - he's a Republican State Senator from FL-26 representing Merritt Island FL and he is the poster boy for why we need redistricting reform in Florida. He is trying to intimidate Fair Districts Florida because it is trying to put a stop to the blatant gerrymandering that the Republicans have used since the 1990's to control the State Legislature and to pack the FL Congressional delegation with Republicans even though there are far more registered Democrats than Republicans in this state.

Right now because of this gerrymandering the Congressional delegation has I think 8 Democrats and 17 Republicans and the State House has 78 Republicans and 42 Democrats and the State Senate has 26 Republicans and 14 Democrats - in spite of the state having more than 600,000 more Democrats than Republicans registered to vote.

Guys like him want to pick their voters instead of letting the voters pick him (or not). We need to show him the door.

Right now he's up for re-election in 2010 but doesn't have a Democratic opponent. It's time we found one and put some DU money behind it and give Senator Mikey some comeuppance.

:argh:


http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2010/02/fair-districts-gets-its-hearing-in-tally.html/comment-page-1#comment-23313

Fair Districts gets its hearing in Tally; Haridopolos ‘look at me’

TALLAHASSEE — Backers of two constitutional changes making it harder for lawmakers to gerrymander their political boundaries made their first appearance before a testy legislative panel Thursday.

FairDistrictsFlorida.org chair Ellen Freidin told the joint House-Senate panel that dozens of other states had rules similar to what they propose on the books governing the once-a-decade redistricting process, ”and they all manage to get their maps drawn.”

The two ballot questions would appear as Amendments 5 and 6 on the November general election ballot. They would require the Legislature to draw districts for itself and congressional members more compactly, mindful of existing city and county boundaries, and not favoring or disfavoring political parties and incumbents. Currently, the maps can look like modern art masterpieces.

“It was so blatantly obvious the current boundaries were drawn to favor or disfavor a current candidate or political party,” Freidin said.

But Republican lawmakers have been highly skeptical of the effort, which was largely bankrolled by Democratic-leaning labor unions and trial lawyers.

For months, Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, have held hearings in the Capitol and complained that the group hasn’t defended its work in Tallahassee.

Critics have also raised questions of whether the amendments would limit minority members in the Legislature and congressional delegation.

Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, grilled Freidin over whether the amendment enshrined the federal Voting Rights Act protections or expanded them. After repeatedly saying the wording was not precisely alike, Freidin said the amendments did provide voting rights which do not currently exist. Hukill pounced, accusing her of making misstatements.

“I came up here on my own expense … I am not going to be badgered like this,” Freidin said at one point in the exchange.


“I’m sorry it’s frustrating. It is frustrating to us,” Cannon shot back. “Words have meaning, particularly when they’re in the Constitution.”

Sen. John Thrasher, a St. Augustine Republican and no friend of trial lawyers, accused Freidin, a lawyer whose husband is a past president of the Florida Justice Association, of pushing a plan that would push the state’s 2012 redistricting process into the courts.

Freidin denied the effort was an attempt to force the map-drawing process into a court room.

Haridopolos objected to Freidin’s remark that drawing fairer districts “was not rocket science.”

“With all due respect, you’re not helping your cause,” Haridopolos said, daring Freidin to draw maps herself. He even asked she “please look at me” when he asked a question.

“You came up with the idea. You spent $3.5 million (on signature-gathering). You can’t do it?” Haridopolos demanded.
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