Political insult to S. Florida must be rectified
Simpson’s heavyhanded partisanship on reapportionment is especially disappointing because he has shown a degree of evenhandedness in the historically close-knit Senate. He appointed three Democrats to chair substantive Senate committees for the two-year cycle that ends after the 2022 election.
Florida legislative leaders have made their highly coveted appointments to House and Senate reapportionment committees, and something is seriously wrong.
Senate President Wilton Simpson chose 12 senators for the critical work of redrawing congressional and legislative district boundaries for the next decade to reflect population and demographic shifts. The group includes eight Republicans and four Democrats, but look closer. Only one is from South Florida, home to one-third of the state’s population, and it’s Republican Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez of Miami, a freshman serving her first term.
Not one South Florida Democrat was appointed, even though Simpson had seven to choose from among 17 Senate Democrats — three from Broward and two each from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade. Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book of Plantation said she wanted to serve on the panel, but had no input in Simpson’s selections.
Institutionalized arrogance
Nothing in Tallahassee happens by accident. This is a calculated snub to marginalize the many Democratic voices in Florida’s three most populous counties, including Miami-Dade, an international center of diversity. It’s the latest example of the institutionalized arrogance that pervades Tallahassee, and it has to be rectified. When power is divvied up, everyone deserves a seat at the table.
On the Senate Reapportionment Committee, Simpson selected Democrats Randolph Bracy and Linda Stewart of Orlando, Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg and Audrey Gibson of Jacksonville.
Gibson is a senior member, but Bracy and Stewart are short on senatorial experience and Rouson has long been known for his willingness to forge alliances with Republicans. As the lengthy Senate committee work begins, the four are the only ones in a position to protect Floridians against the Senate majority’s inevitable partisan manipulation of mapmaking.
All four know their hometown turf well, but none is an expert on the geography of South Florida, and reapportionment is always partly about geography. Simpson deliberately bypassed four Democrats with strong legal backgrounds: Jason Pizzo of Miami, Gary Farmer of Lighthouse Point, Tina Polsky of Boca Raton and Lori Berman of Boynton Beach. Also cast aside: Sen. Victor Torres of Orlando, a persistent voice for the state’s growing Latino population. It’s obvious that Republicans want as few Democrats as possible questioning their reapportionment strategy, and these skewed selections prove it.
Simpson and his spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Historical perspective
To put Simpson’s affront into historical perspective, the last Senate Reapportionment Committee in 2010-12 included six South Florida Democrats, three from Broward (Nan Rich, Chris Smith and Eleanor Sobel). The panel itself was unusually large with 30 members, but the region with the most at stake in Tallahassee and Washington was at least represented, as it should be.
For further comparison, the House didn’t ignore South Florida. Speaker Chris Sprowls made room for the region even though Republicans have bigger numbers in the House than in the Senate.
Sprowls appointed five South Florida Democrats to the 22-member House Redistricting Committee, and three are from Broward. Reps. Joe Geller, D-Aventura, Evan Jenne, D-Dania Beach, and Anika Omphroy, D-Lauderdale Lakes, will join Emily Slosberg of Boca Raton and James Bush of Miami.
Simpson has higher ambitions. A Pasco County egg farmer and businessman, he will run next year for state agriculture commissioner, which would make him one of three Cabinet members, shaping policy on education and the environment and deciding who gets their civil rights restored. He has voiced strong support for Florida to emulate Texas and its highly restrictive anti-abortion law.
As incoming Senate president last fall, Simpson oversaw a successful Senate GOP strategy, but it is now badly tarnished by charges against a former Republican senator, Frank Artiles, that a Miami-Dade race was illegally manipulated to favor a Republican candidate.
Simpson’s heavy-handed partisanship on reapportionment is especially disappointing because he has shown a degree of even-handedness in the historically closeknit Senate. He appointed three Democrats to chair substantive Senate committees for the two-year cycle that ends after the 2022 election. But the stakes are never higher than in redistricting.
Republicans already have more than enough votes to do whatever they want. This is about giving Democrats a meaningful voice. To show that he’s willing to fully acknowledge the presence of about 7 million Floridians, Simpson should immediately add at least one South Florida Democrat to reapportionment, a process that’s already too partisan without rigging the rules before the work even begins.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@ sun-sentinel.com.