Greenberg dogged with accusations of dirty politics

Claims emerged in tax collector reelection race

As the involvement of so-called “ghost” candidates has sparked scandal in several of last year’s elections in Florida, a similar figure’s role in the race for Seminole County tax collector has attracted less scrutiny — even after the incumbent Joel Greenberg became a pariah at the center of a sprawling federal investigation.

Last June, a man who had previously worked with Greenberg on a voter initiative filed to enter the race using a nickname strikingly similar to Greenberg’s expected Democratic opponent.

Daniel Lee Day submitted election paperwork last year as “Dani Mora Day,” which Greenberg’s Democratic opponent

Democrats as possible so all the surrounding districts would be whiter and more Republican. The goal? One district for the Dems; four or five for the Republicans.

It was obviously improper, yet enthusiastically supported by the Democrat who held that seat, Corrine Brown. Brown didn’t care if Floridians were cheated out of reasonable districts. She just wanted a safe seat to which she could be continuously re-elected.

And she was … until she was indicted, convicted and imprisoned on fraud and tax charges.

Republicans and Democrats may not agree on guns or health care. But incumbents often unite in gerrymandering — a bipartisan exercise in protecting their own rear ends.

And they’re about to do it again.

Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Florida will gain one House seat, raising our total to 28. Some Floridians were disappointed we aren’t getting two seats. Frankly, I think one is fine. We can do less damage that way.

Actually, Florida’s population growth has slowed. Every decade for the past half century, Florida has added multiple House seats. This time, it’s just one.

So the map-drawing will soon commence. That’s when Ellen Freidin gets nervous. “If legislators have their way, they will draw districts that favor themselves and their party,” Freidin said. “They will pick their voters rather than allowing voters to pick their representatives.”

Freidin is the CEO of Fair Districts Now, a group that works to ensure Florida gets the kind of sensible districts voters demanded when they passed the Fair Districts amendments in 2010.

Some politicians act like “fair” is some sort of nebulous, utopian concept that can never be defined or attained. Those politicians are full of it.

The language voters approved told legislators to use “city, county and geographical boundaries” to draw districts. The concept isn’t radical. It means you can’t split a tiny town like Winter Park into three or four different congressional districts … which is precisely what legislators did before Fair Districts came along.

They gave Brown lots of Black residents and Republican John Mica a district that started around his Winter Park home and then slithered 120 miles north to St. Johns County.

Brown’s district was super liberal. Mica’s was safely conservative. All the incumbents were happy … because all of them won re-election. Literally all of them.

In 2014, when Congress had the approval rating of an ingrown toenail (14%), every single Florida incumbent who sought re-election won.

Those of you who are good with math and calendars may have noticed that 2014 is after 2010. So you might wonder how districts were still rigged and gerrymandered four years after Floridians passed Fair Districts.

That happened because Florida legislators have more respect for a used Kleenex than the state’s constitution. After you demanded fair districts, lawmakers flipped you the proverbial bird. They gerrymandered anyway.

Then they lied about it. And destroyed records. And forced the Fair Districts group to sue them. And spent more than $6 million of your tax money on $300-an-hour lawyers, trying to fight your mandate.

At one trial, Floridians learned that the House speaker’s office had deleted emails related to redistricting, that lawmakers had routinely staged secret meetings and run their maps by political consultants before approving them. One expert who’d studied gerrymandered districts all over America called Florida’s the most biased he had ever seen. (We’re No. 1!)

The courts delivered a judicial beatdown to legislators reminiscent of what Mike Tyson did to Michael Spinks. (If you don’t know who Spinks is, well, neither did he after he was KO’d in the first round.)

Legislators ultimately lost, but the court battles dragged on long enough for them to get in another round of gerrymandered elections.

“It took four and a half years to uncover what they had done,” Freidin said. “One court said it had been a conspiracy to make a mockery out of Fair Districts; a complete disregard for Florida Constitution that they pledged to uphold.”

My guess is that they are going to try to do it again.

Fish swim. Skunks stink. And Florida politicians can’t help but lie and cheat … according to court rulings and transcripts, mind you.

That’s why Freidin and other Fair District advocates have created a pledge this time that they hope lawmakers will sign. It says only that signers will agree to follow the law. That’s probably too much to ask of many of them.

“The Legislature lost our trust last time,” Freidin said. “They really need to prove to us that they have earned it back.”

Lawmakers swear they will. In a memo last week, state House redistricting committee Chairman Tom Leek told members to “conduct yourself and your conversations as to not violate the Florida Constitution.”

I have more faith that those skunks will start spraying Chanel No. 5. After all, legislators swore they were following the rules last time. And they were proven to be liars.

But I’d love to see them do better this time. They set a very low bar for themselves to clear. But they should know this: We’ll be watching. So will the watchdogs. And their lawyers.