Politics

Democratic spat is taken to court

A consultant challenges the national party over a threat to void Florida's early vote.

By BILL VARIAN, Times Staff Writer
Published August 31, 2007

TAMPA -- A Democratic political consultant asked a judge Thursday to determine whether the Democratic National Committee can render Florida's presidential primary moot for holding it too early.

Victor DiMaio, who has worked on several local campaigns in Hillsborough County, said his main goal is to ensure that Florida's primary votes count in determining the party's nominee for president.

"Personally, my greatest fear is we end up with no delegates at the convention," DiMaio said during a news conference. "We have no say in determining who's going to be the next Democratic candidate for president."

The DNC rules committee Saturday voted to strip Florida of all of its 210 delegates to the presidential nominating convention in response to the state Legislature moving Florida's primary up to Jan. 29.

The state party can avoid this fate only if it makes the vote non-binding for Democrats.

National party rules allow only Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina to hold primaries or caucuses before Feb. 5.

The DNC wants Florida Democrats to schedule a later series of caucuses or a vote-by-mail election as their official election to allocate Florida's presidential delegates.

Florida Democratic leaders so far refuse to bend, noting that the Jan. 29 state election also includes an important property tax ballot initiative. They say a later alternate election would be too expensive and exclude too many Democratic voters.

A 1981 U.S. Supreme Court case out of Washington upheld national parties' authority to determine how their presidential nominees are chosen.

Michael Steinberg, a Social Security lawyer who has run unsuccessfully for office, is representing DiMaio. Both are members of the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee, but are acting independently of the party.

Steinberg says another Supreme Court ruling out of Texas in 1944 appears to pose some conflict with the Wisconsin ruling. In that case, the court said the state party could not prohibit black people from serving as delegates, as its rules stated at that time.

Also in that case, the court found that political parties, while private groups, serve as arms of government in helping determine presidential candidates. As such, they cannot have rules that violate the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.

Steinberg said he believes that ruling applies in this case because four other states are allowed to hold primaries early.

The lawsuit he filed in the U.S. District Court in Tampa asks a judge to sort out what Steinberg considers to be conflicting guidance from the two court rulings. He intends to ask that the court decide the matter quickly, before a 30-day deadline for Florida's response expires.

"We're asking the courts to determine whether the national party rules supersede states' rights to set a primary," Steinberg said.

His suit names the DNC and Florida Democratic Party as defendants.

Florida Republicans also stand to lose half of their presidential delegates under GOP national rules because of the early primary, but the matter has become especially contentious between national and state Democrats.

Bill Varian can be reached at (813) 226-3387 or varian@sptimes.com. Times Political Editor Adam Smith contributed to this report.

[Last modified August 31, 2007, 02:35:15]