I sent an op-ed piece to my local paper here in Tallahassee, but I haven't heard back from them, which usually means they're not going to print it. They recently published their own editorial on the same subject, so I don't blame them for opting out.
But, since mine is a little more pointed then theirs, I would like to post it here and over at FlaPolitics.com.
Why let only Tea Partiers have all the fun?
[While collecting the links for this piece I found out that Route66 has previously posted on this based on a quick piece I did in FlaPolitics.com right after attending the hearing. Since this piece is a call to action and not meant just to be informative, I hope you will tolerate the repetition]
Image may be NSFW.
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The first time you see State Senator Mike Haridopolos it’s impossible not to be shocked by how young he looks. This is one of the most powerful men in Florida politics and he could pass for someone not that long out of high school.
Over the past few months I’ve been using my newly retired status to visit the legislature and observe some committee hearings. I was interested in ones on redistricting, the process where the political districts lines are redrawn every ten years after the census.
Sen. Haridopolos, along with his House counterpart, Rep. Dean Cannon, chairs these hearings.
This year the tension is higher than usual because there are two proposals up for consideration in the November elections that would amend the state constitution by setting additional standards for the process in an attempt to restrict the gerrymandering that goes on.
In the first two hearings I sat through I was intrigued by Sen. Haridopolos’ demeanor. He uses his youthful good looks to great advantage by adopting a sort of "cute little boy" shtick.
He says things like "Gosh, because of term limits, none of us here know much about this stuff. Maybe you could help us understand it." His style is so seductive you just want to give him whatever he wants and take care of him.
So, it came as something of a shock when all that changed during the third hearing I attended.
The difference was that the first two had been organized and scripted by Sen. Haridopolos and Rep. Cannon, but this one was a presentation by Ellen Freidin, Campaign Chair for FairDistrictsFlorida.org.
Ms. Freidin, a south Florida attorney, raised the money to collect signatures in order to get these proposals on the ballot, and was there to present the campaign’s side of the story.
After close to two hours of back and forth exchanges that kept getting more and more testy, Ms. Freidin, who was tired from standing at a podium the whole time, turned her head to the side and sighed in an effort to control her temper during yet another harangue by Sen. Haridopolos.
It was at this point that the "cute little boy" persona suddenly got a little edgier, and took on more of the anger of a powerful male politician with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement.
"Please look at me", he hissed. "I’m speaking with you."
Whoa! What made him snap?
Well, you need to remember that ten years ago, the last time redistricting occurred, a legislator named Tom Feeney, who was in charge of the process back then, drew himself a new congressional district with just the right mix of voters, and his home, to get himself elected to the House of Representatives.
(As a digression, it’s fun to remember that he lost this custom designed seat in 2008 due to his association with the corrupt lobbyist, Jack Abramoff.)
Is it too farfetched to assume that Sen. Haridopolos might like to do the same thing this time around? And maybe his anger was motivated by the audacity of this uppity woman who would challenge his destiny?
Sen. Haridopolos can be reached at (850) 487-5056 or haridopolos.mike.web@ flsenate.gov in case you’d like to tell him that we are looking at him, and we don’t like what we see.