The suspected Republican-led redistricting map scandal is confirmed. Top aide to then-Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Dean Cannon, has just admitted to “secretly feeding” redistricting maps to a Republican consultant prior to their release to the public in 2012.

Pepper said he did it to “help a friend who was cut out of a process that determines how he makes his living.” I am sure that this “friend” was not the only one who would have benefitted from Pepper’s gesture.

Kirk Pepper, a deputy chief of staff for Cannon, told a Leon County judge Tuesday that he was simply trying to help GOP consultant Marc Reichelderfer during the first redistricting effort subject to the anti-gerrymandering Fair District amendments approved by voters in 2010.-New Service of Florida

take our poll - story continues below

Do you think the 2nd Amendment will be destroyed by the Biden Administration?(2)

• Do you think the 2nd Amendment will be destroyed by the Biden Administration?  

• Do you think the 2nd Amendment will be destroyed by the Biden Administration?*
  • Yes.
  • Yes, but only parts.
  • Not a chance.
• Email*
• Phone
  This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Completing this poll grants you access to Shark Tank updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Pepper testified on the second day of a trial in lawsuit brought by voting-rights groups arguing that the congressional districts violated the new standards, which bar the Legislature from favoring or harming political parties or candidates during the once-a-decade redistricting process.

According to computer records and testimony, Pepper in some cases provided Reichelderfer with copies of the plans being crafted by House mapmakers weeks before they became public.

“In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done that again,” Pepper said under questioning from David King, a lawyer for those challenging the map. “But it was intended to help a friend who was cut out of a process that determines how he makes his living.”-News Service of FL

The politico, who chaired the Florida House’s redistricting efforts, Speaker Will Weatherford, was not to happy about Pepper’s decision to leak the maps.

“I was very disappointed to hear that he did that… I think had the speaker known he’d done it, had I known he’d done it, there would have been serious consequences for him,” Weatherford said after testifying himself.

Weatherford later defended the maps drawn ” ticking off a list of Republicans who lost primary or general elections after the lines were redrawn.”

“The proof is in the pudding on the map,” Weatherford said. “Go look at it. Congressman David Rivera’s not here anymore. Congressman Allen West is not here anymore. Congresswoman Sandy Adams is not here anymore. Congressman Cliff Stearns is not here anymore.”

Remember, in the fall of 2011, one of these “briliant” legislators told the Shark Tank that Allen West was screwed, before the redistricting maps were ever released.

West’s congressional district inexplicably sheds the most Republican electoral support, in comparison to all other incumbent Republican and Democrat Congressman. A few weeks back we quoted an unnamed legislator saying that, “Allen West was screwed”, a statement which was originally made about made five months before the proposed maps were made public, leading insiders to believe that the fix was in against Allen West. But in light of Weatherford’s comment (VIDEO), it is increasingly clear that this is a fait accompli.

Allen West confirmed and affirmed that legislators “screwed” him during the redistricting process in June of 2012

 I think everyone knows that Republicans did it- I really don’t care. I’m fine. No one ambushes me. –Congressman Allen West