The Florida Legislature illegally redrew boundaries defining congressional districts to benefit the Republican Party, a circuit court judge ruled Thursday. The League of Women Voters, along with a coalition of voters, challenged the states Republican-controlled Legislature after it redrew congressional district lines in 2012, suggesting boundaries were manipulated to benefit GOP candidates. Circuit Judge Terry Lewis, in a hard-hitting, 41-page ruling Thursday, accused political consultants of making a mockery of the Legislatures transparent and open process of redistricting. The political consultants were successful in their efforts to influence the redistricting process and the congressional plan under review here, Lewis wrote in the ruling. And they might have successfully concealed their scheme and their actions from the public had it not been for the Plaintiffs determined efforts to uncover it in this case. Court documents filed in December revealed that many of the Legislatures redistricting records, including emails and other documents, were destroyed.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 11:40:35 +0000
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