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One plan would lop off southern St. Petersburg and add Manatee or parts of Hillsborough County.
By BRYAN GILMER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 16, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- For more than 30 years, the relationship between St. Petersburg and U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young has worked well for both. Voters send the Republican to Washington, and he sends back millions of dollars in pork.
But a plan in the Florida Legislature threatens to sever Young, now head of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, from part of his district.
Three redistricting plans in the state House would lop off southern St. Petersburg from Young's congressional district and wildly stretch his domain into Manatee or northern and southern Hillsborough County.
The result: Residents of St. Petersburg would be represented by two members of Congress. The same would be true of Tampa.
It's a threat St. Petersburg has seen before: In 1982, the Legislature considered lumping St. Petersburg with Manatee and part of Hillsborough counties. The plan ultimately failed.
"I just don't like the way they are dissecting the city," St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker said Friday. "I think we have a lot of common interests in St. Pete and really in southern Pinellas County that we don't share with Manatee County or Hillsborough County. I just think that's a huge mistake."
Constituents of U.S. Rep Jim Davis, D-Tampa, aren't any happier with the potential reshaping of his district, which includes all of Tampa.
"It's like dividing your baby in half," said Hillsborough County Commission chairwoman Pat Frank. "We need a representative who represents Hillsborough and speaks with a single voice."
A plan favored by state Senate redistricting chairman Jack Latvala, R-Palm Harbor, would leave Young's district about the same as it is now, moving its northern boundary to Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard in Clearwater, giving Young more constituents as required by the 2000 census.
But the final decision will be made in negotiations between the House and Senate, and it is anyone's guess what the result will be as state lawmakers balance political aspirations with the new populations counted by the census.
Young said Friday he would like to keep his district "as close to the same as possible. I believe you should keep districts as compact as possible."
Young said he can't predict what the Legislature will assign him, but he said that he will be happy with nearly anything and that it would not change his generosity with federal tax money.
"When it comes to appropriations, I take care of the Tampa Bay area as though it's all my district."
Latvala said he would oppose dramatic changes to Young's district.
"Central St. Petersburg -- the port, the airport, the courthouse, downtown -- that will all continue to be a part of Bill Young's district," Latvala said, leaving open the possibility that some of St. Petersburg might change hands.
Why change it at all?
Politics.
Republicans worry about the future of Young's district. They want to keep much of St. Petersburg in Young's district but trim away Democratic precincts south of downtown.
The party is looking beyond Young, who is 71. Though Young won by a landslide in 2000, a new Republican candidate might have a tough time. Democrat Al Gore won the district in 2000, but Bush would have won under one of the House proposals.
Baker, who holds a nonpartisan office as mayor, says politics is not a good reason to change the district. Those precincts also contain poor neighborhoods and most of the city's African-Americans, and they are areas most in need of the federal funding that Young can steer their way.
"He can win in (the current) district, and he will continue to win in this district," said Baker, who has been active in the state and national Republican Party. "He was instrumental in getting the $3.75-million for the new health clinic on the Mercy Hospital site. People around there feel he's their congressman."
David Welch, a black businessman and former City Council member, is a registered Democrat but agrees with Baker's assessment of Young.
"He's really served this community well," Welch said. "Why not leave Bill alone? People are not voting Republican and Democrat now. They are voting the person, and he is like a father figure. Look at the total projects, what Young has done for Pinellas County."
- Times staff writers David Karp, Steve Bousquet, Lucy Morgan and Bill Adair contributed to this report.