TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - For the second day in court, a high-ranking Republican legislator defended how the Florida Legislature drew up political maps for Congress.
The redistricting trial now underway in a Tallahassee courtroom could wind up reshaping the state’s political landscape if the groups suing the state can prove the current maps violate the law. Attorneys for the Legislature have denied any wrongdoing, but if the court finds the current districts unconstitutional it could force legislators to redraw them.
But so far top legislators remain adamant they have done nothing wrong even when confronted with evidence of consultants getting maps ahead of the public.
Florida Senate President Don Gaetz spent several hours on the stand Wednesday. Gaetz, a Niceville Republican, was in charge of the Senate committee that oversaw redistricting in 2011 and 2012.
He was asked about his relationship with GOP consultant Rich Heffley, who was getting paid $10,000 a month by the Republican Party of Florida to help with redistricting. Gaetz said he thought Heffley was getting paid to help with state Senate campaigns. Gaetz said that while he would talk to Heffley he insisted that he did not play a role in redistricting efforts.
But much of the questioning centered on the push by the Senate to increase the number of black voters in a sprawling district that stretches from Jacksonville to Orlando but also bends westward into part of Gainesville.
Attorneys challenging the maps in the lawsuit say it was done to put more Democratic voters in the district of U.S. Rep. Corinne Brown in order to help Republicans in adjacent districts. Voters in 2010 passed the “Fair Districts” amendment that says districts cannot be drawn in a way to favor incumbents or members of a political party.
Gaetz acknowledged that Brown’s district was not compact under “traditional rules of geometry” but he insisted that the legislators drew it that way to ensure that minority voters would be able to elect someone of their choosing. He also said it would help with any potential lawsuits.
“It gave us a far more defensible position, a position more faithful to our commitment to minority voting rights,” Gaetz said.
But a lawyer for the groups suing over the maps pointed out that the change wound up shifting 13,000 more black voters into the district than was recommended by groups such as the NAACP.
Gaetz also testified about the meetings he had with House Speaker Will Weatherford where the decision was made on Brown’s district. He said that even though the meeting was never noticed that it was “open” to anyone who had wanted to attend.
Gaetz was also questioned about a lack of records available from the Legislature because both the House and Senate destroyed records related to redistricting. Legislative lawyers have asserted this was just normal procedure.
But Gaetz testified he never personally deleted any of his emails and said he wasn’t even sure if he knew how to delete them.
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