On the surface, Pinellas County Commission’s recent letter to the Florida Legislature seems benign enough. Follow the rules, it says in more words. Fairly redraw the state’s Congressional districts.
An appropriate piece of guidance, no doubt. The judge who gave the Senate and House until today to complete the task would surely agree.
However, like a lot of political communication, much of the message’s true meaning lies beneath the surface.
So, in the spirit of transparency, we’ve not only included the original text, but the politically unfiltered version of the original text as well. The real stuff’s in quotations. Everything in italics amounts to slightly more than a spectacular delusion.
“As the Legislature gathers for Special Session B. to redraw Florida’s Congressional District Lines, including the Congressional Districts in Pinellas County, we urge you to take Pinellas County’s unique geography of a peninsula on a peninsula into consideration.”
Look, this is Pinellas County we’re talking about here. We’re original. Our people are tight. Not only do we live in a state that’s surrounded by water on three sides, but we live in a county that’s nearly an island too — and that kind of stuff brings people together. See? So don’t forget it when coming up with the new map.
“As stated in Section 20 of the Florida Constitution, we encourage the Legislature to utilize existing political and geographic boundaries.”
You have some pretty practical boundaries set in place already — use those for the Congressional districts. Like we mentioned, we’re a peninsula — the earth lumped us together all on its own, why disrupt nature? And county boundaries have been working well for quite a while now, use those for guidance too. And if you still need more direction, check out the Florida Constitution — see Section 20 specifically, it was put in there to address this exact type of ordeal.
“In addition, we would like the Legislature to consider the portion of Section 20 that states that ‘districts shall consist of contiguous territory’ in order to help keep Pinellas County whole during the redistricting process.”
Refer back to the part of the state Constitution that says all portions of a Congressional district should be touching. Go by that passage when redrawing the new map. Because, here in Pinellas, things aren’t touching like they should. Part of South St. Pete is in the same district as downtown Tampa. To stay within that district, while still getting from South St. Pete to downtown Tampa, you’d need a boat to cross Tampa Bay.
“Thank you for your careful consideration of this information and please feel free to reach out to me or my fellow Commissioners with any questions.”
We’ve done our research, performed our due diligence, and made our position publicly known. Now the ball’s in your court.
End scene.
The original letter was signed by John Morroni, chairman of the Pinellas County Commission, addressed to House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner.
Last Tuesday, the House passed the base congressional map, which makes all of the Pinellas peninsula one congressional district. The Senate then amended that map, and the House, in turn, rejected it. Legislators are supposed to end their current congressional redistricting special session today, though an agreement between the House and Senate has yet to be reached.
