By Times staff writers
Published December 18, 2005
The folks trying to overhaul the way political districts are drawn in Florida have a Feb. 1 deadline for having more than 610,000 verified signatures to get their proposals on the ballot. As of last week, the Committee for Fair Elections, the group heavily financed by Common Cause, said it had gathered about 735,000 of the 750,000 signatures it intended to submit.
But wait. The state Division of Elections reports having fewer than 200,000 verified signatures for the redistricting ballot initiatives to date. What gives?
With the clock ticking toward the deadline, it seems big stacks of petitions have not been verified by local elections officials. Paul Dunn, campaign manager for the redistricting effort, did not know Friday how many signatures his group had to turn in for review and how many were awaiting verification at local elections offices. Either way, he said, the committee would turn in all its signatures for review by the end of the year.
Some ballot initiative groups are starting to fret about that Feb. 1 deadline.
"If the supervisors get inundated with signatures they're not expecting, then that could cause problems for all of us," said Cheryl Forchilli, campaign manager for Floridians for Youth Tobacco Education, a group working to require legislators to spend tobacco settlement money on tobacco education and prevention efforts.
As it is, local elections offices will have to temporarily halt verifying signatures while they work on the state's new centralized voter file. Dunn said that he was not worried about the deadline and that if need be local elections officials would hire extra staff members to process the ballot petitions.
"These supervisors of elections have an obligation to process the signatures in a timely manner," he said. "We will have all of our petitions in at least 30 days before the deadline."
The redistricting proposal is aimed at making elections more competitive by having a less partisan process for drawing district lines. The proposal would create a 15-member commission to draw the district lines. Twelve would be named by Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature, and three would be judges appointed by the Florida Supreme Court.
DAVIS' DAY JOB: The St. Petersburg Times reported recently that while campaigning for governor, Rep. Jim Davis had become the 10th biggest vote misser in the U.S. House. But in a taped interview airing today on Bay News 9, Davis brushed off the potential political damage from missing 14 percent of his votes.
"I have a 95 percent lifetime record of voting, and I will continue to be in Washington when I need to, and here at home, to do the job," Davis says on Political Connections, which airs today at 11 a.m. and starting Monday on Channel 340 (Tampa Bay on Demand).
His constituents, Davis said, "should expect me to be fighting and doing the job, and I am doing that. I'm proud to tell you that on Palm Sunday, many legislators didn't want to go to Washington. I went up there and as you know organized and led the opposition against Tom Delay's attempts to play politics with the tragic life of Terri Schiavo."
Last week Davis did make it to Washington to vote in favor of extending the Patriot Act and to support a ban on torture. But he missed a vote to bolster the country's pension system.
CANDIDATE YUCKS: Tom Gallagher may be relieved he didn't rate any political parody this week at the annual Capital City Tiger Bay holiday party in Tallahassee. Or should he be concerned? He's the only one of four gubernatorial candidates who wasn't the subject of a bit of buffoonery at the annual fete, where a six-person cabaret show, the Laughing Stock, takes aim at all things political.
The troupe took care of the two Democratic candidates, Davis and state Sen. Rod Smith, in one swoop. To the tune of the theme song from TV's Cheers, performers Ben Gunter and Aaron Michael Hanselman portrayed the Democrats, singing into beers: "Everywhere you go, it seems nobody knows your name ... You want to win, but nobody knows your name."
But a piece on Charlie Crist got some of the biggest laughs as it took aim at the question-and-answer exchange 11 months ago at a Tampa Tiger Bay meeting, when Crist told a member he wasn't gay.
Gunter, solo on stage Wednesday night, sang: "You can always try to out me, but I don't know how the heck you will. I'm really just a model of a new-age metrosexual. ... So Jeb thinks Gallagher will win or maybe Toni Jennings will, but I know Florida wants me, the new age metrosexual."
UNDECIDED LEADS: A poll released last week suggests many Florida voters have not made up their minds in the gubernatorial primaries. Among 386 Republicans surveyed Nov. 27-30 by InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research, 55 percent were undecided, 24 percent backed Crist, and 21 percent supported Gallagher.
The poll for the subscription news service Florida Insider showed a much closer Democratic race than do other polls, which have consistently put Davis ahead. Among 416 Democrats polled, 67 percent were undecided in the gubernatorial primary, 18 percent supported Smith, and 15 percent backed Davis. The margin of error for both races was about plus or minus 5 percentage points.
READ THEIR LIPS: Republicans Crist and Gallagher have signed the Americans for Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge, promising to "oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes."
Gallagher recently said he signed the pledge Wednesday and personally presented it to Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist. Crist's camp noted that the attorney general had signed the pledge in June.
"The real path to continued economic growth and expanded opportunities in Florida can only be achieved through tax relief, not tax hikes," said a statement from Gallagher, who is probably more vulnerable on the tax issue than Crist. After all, Gallagher once pushed a penny-for-prison sales tax increase and backed the ill-fated services tax.
"Pledges are important, but actions speak louder," Crist said in an e-mail to supporters. "Throughout my years of public service I have stood squarely against tax increases, and will continue to do so as governor."
"INNOVATIVE" JEB: It's not exactly the kind of description of anyone expects from a prospective Democratic presidential candidate. But then maybe that's why Virginia Gov. Mark Warner wins red states. "There are a lot of things he has done that have been innovative," Warner told Florida reporters at last weekend's state Democratic conference when asked about Jeb Bush. Warner said he had "some questions about parts of his Medicaid plan" but said that as former chairman of the National Governor's Association, he has had good relationships with governors of both parties. "You're not going to hear me take shots at other governors."
WHAT, JEB WORRY? Gov. Bush contends the political troubles plaguing his brother and the Republican-led Congress won't mean much for Florida's 2006 elections.
"At the end of the day, I really believe these elections aren't national elections. Candidates for governor have their own agenda, their own platform, and there are too many cases (where it doesn't matter). I'll give you a great example, in 1994," Bush said, noting that he lost his first gubernatorial race that year while Republicans swept to power in Congress. "That kind of proves Florida is a special place. We march to a different beat."
Adam C. Smith and Joni James contributed to this week's Buzz. For more political news, check out www.sptimes.com/blogs/buzz
