LWVOC Blow By Blow Blog

SUPPORT SUNRAIL

Gov. Rick Scott is expected to make a decision on the fate of SunRail next week. But first Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad will hold hearings in Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Volusia counties to gauge the support local officials have for SunRail. The Orlando Sentinel editorial today (June 25) says this is Central Florida's chance to show up and speak up for the train than can give commuters an alternative to gridlocked Interstate 4. LWVOC Vice President Michele Levy will speak on behalf of the League at one of the hearings.

President's Letter

Dear League Members...
 
I had never bothered keeping a detailed calendar. A one-inch square in a regular diary was always enough to remind me to pick up dry-cleaning, get the oil in my car changed and to go for medical checkups. When I retired after spending more than 50 years working in newsrooms on three continents, first as a reporter and then as an editor bossing people around, I braced myself for long periods of nothingness.
 
But that was before I joined the League of Women Voters of Orange County and met a human dynamo called Deirdre Macnab, who was local chair before becoming the state president. "Could you help out?" Deirdre would ask in her typically warm and expectant way. Or there would be an email saying: "This is something we might want to pursue." Within weeks I was going to meetings, writing stories for The Voter and reports on hearings I attended as part of the Observer Corps. I stocked up on reporters' notebooks and pens.
 
I learned a new language with the help of Caroline Emmons-Schramm. Suffragists not Suffragettes. Program isn't about an event. It is in Leaguespeak the LWV's basis for both advocacy and education efforts. One of the best assignments was helping Hot Topics chair Andrea Kobrin lineup panelists for the monthly luncheons. During two decades in the Orlando Sentinel's newsroom I had never met as many movers and shakers.
 
But best of all was getting the chance to chat with other members as we waited in line for lunch or shared a table. My daily calendar now fills a page. The other week included a LWVOC board meeting, a bank renaming ceremony, a local government committee meeting, an hour-long conference call and a luncheon at which former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy spoke. (I have no illusions that I would have been invited if I wasn't representing the LWVOC. ) It was great to share a table with nine other League members.
 
I'm also working on our Facebook page. Check it out at Facebook.com/LWVOC.
 
We want to expand our reach. That is what the League is all about. Reaching out to strangers, friends, people in power, out of power, hoping to be in power, the wise, the profound, the kind-hearted and the interesting.   

ANN (Hellmuth)

LWVOC president

Sentinel's Scott Maxwell on Redistricting: The secrets, lies and shenanigans

Great column today from Scott Maxwell.

Feeling overwhelmed by all this talk of redistricting?

Well, the topic may sound complex, even boring. But you have a lot at stake.

That's why I've produced: "Lies, secrets and shenanigans: The top 10 ways redistricting affects your money, your votes and your life in general."

Yeah, I know it's a long title. But there's a lot of stuff going on. So let's get started.

•Right now, the system's rigged. Instead of voters choosing their politicians, the politicians choose their voters. The pols predetermine which districts should be Republican and which should be Democratic — and then carve out snake-like districts to suit their fancy, often splitting communities in two. This unites politicians from opposing sides because they have the same self-centered goals of protecting themselves and their buddies.

•This is why your "representative" can live 100 miles away. That's how it works for both U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown and John Mica. The Democrat Brown lives in Jacksonville — yet represents parts of Orlando. And the Republican Mica must drive more than 100 miles from his Winter Park home to get to his congressional office in St. Augustine. Neither wants too many members of the opposing party in their districts. So you end up with two districts that make political sense … and geographic nonsense.

•This system leads to extremism. When a district is drawn specifically to elect a Democrat or a Republican, there's little reason for moderate candidates to run. The race usually gets decided in the primary. That's good for the party extremists — not so much for the moderate majority.

•You and I are trying to fix things. More than 3 million of us voted to end gerrymandering last year when we supported the Fair Districts amendments to the constitution. More than 60 percent of voters demanded that future districts be drawn based upon compact, geographical sense rather than party affiliation. It was a very good day for democracy.

•Corrine Brown and Dean Cannon hope that good day never dawns. Brown and a Republican Congressman from South Florida — both beneficiaries of gerrymandered districts — sued to try to overturn your Fair Districts vote. Then, in a galling act, House Speaker Dean Cannon decided the state Legislature should join the lawsuit — and spend your money trying to overturn your vote.

•This is still America, right? Think about that last part for a moment: If a Cuban dictator or some other third-world leader spent the public's money trying to overturn its own vote, Americans would be appalled. Here in Florida, though, it passes for business as usual. Cannon's office reported paying lawyers up to $300 an hour to fight your will. And they've set aside as much as $30 million for all the legal issues they expect to come along with the once-a-decade redistricting process.

•Many opponents of Fair Districts are big fat liars. Anyone who claims the entire Fair Districts movement is about hurting Republicans is lying. Good-government groups and the media have been calling for fair districts for decades — way back to the days when Democrats ran the state and played the same dirty tricks. In 1993, this very newspaper called for change after describing the Democrats' own version of gerrymandering as "a spectacle of self-serving politicians protecting their turf…" Just because many of the politicians are hypocritical hacks doesn't mean everyone is.

•Your state districts will change, too. Most of the hubbub involves congressional districts, because they look the loopiest and are the only part of the Fair Districts vote being challenged in court. But the Legislature must redraw state House and Senate districts as well.

•Watch out for timing tricks. Legislators have planned a listening tour to get comments from residents. That's good. But they have also stretched the timeline out so far that residents won't know what new districts will look like until the deadline for declaring a campaign is close. That's designed to help incumbents and limit challenges. Most states will complete redistricting this year. Cannon's office said Florida definitely won't finish until 2012.

•The pictures tell the true story. I can write words until I'm blue in the face. But nothing tells the story of gerrymandering as well as the maps themselves. So that's what I'll share with you Sunday — the pictures that show everything from a district so narrow that it encompasses only a highway to another district drawn specifically around a certain politician's house.

smaxwell@tribune.com or 407-420-6141

 

Legislators must show redistricting maps NOW

From today's Orlando Sentinel - Letters to the Editor

The Legislature on Monday embarked on a 26-stop, all-expenses paid tour to hear what voters have to say about redistricting. However, maps of the new congressional and legislative districts won’t be on display, even though voters made it abundantly clear last November that they want fairer redistricting standards added to the state constitution.

The maps won’t be ready until the Florida Legislature ends its 2012 session in March, long after the public hearings have ended.

As a consolation, the chairman of the House Redistricting Committee, Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said Monday that the public will be given THREE whole days to study the maps before a vote is taken.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: Such generosity is perfect nonsense.

For it is likely the maps will be challenged in court and finalization could be delayed until the qualifying date in June, barely two months before August’s primary election. The result: complete voter confusion, since many people will not know which district they are in, much less who is running.

The League of Women Voters calls on lawmakers to produce the maps NOW so the public has something substantive to comment on. The League also calls on all Florida voters to add their voices and demand that the legislators: Show us the maps!

Ann Hellmuth
President, League of Women Voters of Orange County.  

Double K to the rescue

Thanks to board member Adrienne Katz Katz for coming to the rescue and speaking on redistricting at the annual convention of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans. Adrienne had less than 24 hours notice when the planned speaker got sick and she was asked to step in.

U.S. House set to abolish election protections

In a surprise move, the House leadership has scheduled a vote this Wednesday, June 22, on legislation to abolish the Election Assistance Commission, HR 672. With many continuing threats to the right to vote, now is not the time to terminate the only federal agency that devotes its full resources and attention to improving our elections.  Tell your Representative to vote no on HR 672! The League believes that elections are fundamental to a functioning democracy and that every effort should be made to elevate their administration to the highest importance. Congress should not turn its back on federal efforts to ensure election integrity, improve voter access to the polls, and improve election systems. The value of the EAC far outweighs its monetary costs; in fact, the costs of poorly run elections are intolerable. It is time for election administration to move into the 21st Century, not back toward the 19th. TAKE ACTION 1. Send your Representative a message now! Tell him or her to vote against HR 672. Say that Congress should not turn its back on federal efforts to ensure election integrity, improve voter access to the polls, and improve election systems.    2. Send this alert to other concerned citizens -- your grassroots network, your friends and coworkers -- encourage them to contact their Representative.

League of Women Voters 1730 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20036

Macnab tells lawmakers: Don't use tax dollars to fight redistricting

As state lawmakers kicked off the first of a round of 26 hearings on redistricting today in Tallahassee, Deirdre Macnab, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, criticized the use of tax dollars "to both fight and defend the same case" She urged the panel to: "Please drop these lawsuits and follow the will of the voters."

Show Your Support for Sunrail

Want to weigh in with your support for SunRail, Central Florida's Commuter Rail project? Your last chance to do so could be this month. Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad will be in Central Florida on Tuesday, June 28th to hear directly from Central Florida citizens about the project. He will host a series of SunRail workshops. Times and locations of those in our region are as follows:

8:30 to 9:30 a.m.
Seminole County Commission
1101 East First St.   
Sanford, FL 32771
Capacity: 250

Noon to 1:00 p.m.
City of Maitland
1776 Independence Lane
Maitland, FL 32751
Capacity: 80

2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
City of Orlando
400 South Orange Ave.
Orlando, FL 32801
Capacity: 192

4:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Orange County Commission
201 South Rosalind Ave.           
Orlando, FL 32801

6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Osceola County Commission
One Courthouse Square,
Suite 4700
Kissimmee, FL 34741
Capacity: 150

Redistricting hearings start Monday

Redistricting. The drawing of political lines for state and congressional districts begins in Florida on Monday when state lawmakers launch a 26-stop series of hearings. Orlando's turn comes on July 27 with hearings at the Bob Carr Auditorium at 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. We hope you'll join other League members and turnout for the sessions. To read a good primer on what to expect check out the Orlando Sentinel's detailed story in today's edition. http://tinyurl.com/667p8cu

Patrick Kennedy: Americans leaving soldiers behind

By Ann Hellmuth
      Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy invoked the memory of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, when he spoke Friday (June 17) at the Mental Health Association of Central Florida's Legacy of Champions luncheon in Orlando.
       Kennedy, whose father U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy died of brain cancer, called the brain the “last medical frontier....a race to inner space.”
        Recalling JFK’s “race to the moon,” Kennedy said when the president first announced that the United States would put a man on the moon within the decade, everyone said no way. “How did we get this done in 10 years?.... we can do anything we put our minds to.”
       Humorous and self-deprecating, Kennedy -- “Once I left Congress no one returned my calls” -- said it didn’t matter what the neurological disorder, a rising tide in brain funding helps us all.
       Part of the speech was a plea to help soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with traumatic brain injuries and traumatic stress disorders.
       “Why are we as Americans leaving our soldiers behind?” he asked.
      Kennedy said too many returning soldiers ended up on the streets, part of a growing homeless population, or in prison cells.
      “Is there no better way to welcome our soldiers home than to open up the cell door because we haven’t come up with a better way to treat them?” he said.
         Kennedy received a standing ovation from the audience, including members of the League of Women Voters of Orange County and former U.S. Rep. Patricia Schroeder, packed into the Sheraton Downtown ballroom.
         Some of the loudest applause came when Chief Judge Belvin Perry, who is currently presiding over the Casey Anthony trial, was introduced as one of the MHACF’s Legacy Champions. Other Legacy Champions who were honored included former Orange County Mayor Linda Chapin, a former LWVOC president.
       Lars Houmann, president and CEO of Florida Hospital, was named 2011 Champion.