The Florida Congressional Redistricting hearings got underway today with Leon County Judge Terry Lewis presiding over a map mess, involving a total of seven maps that he must review to see which one might be the most suitable to submit to the Florida Supreme Court for final review. Several lawmakers, including several state senators, a former congressman, several staff members involved in the actual mapping process were expected to testify, along with witnesses for the League of Women Voters and Common Cause.
Attorneys for both the legislature and the citizens groups sparred over whether there was partisan intent in the mapmaking process. Attorneys for the Florida House argued there was no partisan intent stating, “the evidence is going to show not a shred of proof that political intent affected any of the base map”. These attorneys also argued that maps put out by the citizen groups were tainted with partisan intent because the Democratic Congressional Caucus Committee reviewed their map before it was sent to the Florida Supreme Court; attorneys for the citizens group denied these claims.
During testimony, Florida House staff Jason Poreda described a closed-off process in which staffers sat in a room to draw up the maps, they were the only ones allowed in the room, and discussions were not recorded, adding to a “sterilized” environment, free from outside influences. Discussion ensued regarding charges of certain map districts being favorable or unfavorable to Hispanics.
Others expected to testify include Sen Bill Galvan (R-Bradenton) and Sen Tom Lee (R-Brandon), as well a John O’Neill, a mapmaker for Strategic Telemetry, a DC based consulting firm with ties to the Democratic Party.
