Brown vs. NAACP

Matt Dixon
jacksonville.com

A battle brewing over two Florida constitutional amendments that would change the way the state’s political districts are drawn has opened a rift between one of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations and black politicians who say the amendments will harm their communities.

The amendment debate has placed U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, a Jacksonville Democrat, and other black elected officials at odds with groups like the NAACP, traditional allies.

Every 10 years, state lawmakers carve out new legislative and congressional districts that are supposed to reflect updated census data. With a lot at stake, the process has historically been packed with political gamesmanship.

Amendments 5 and 6 on November’s ballot are designed to remove politics from the process. Redrawn districts could not help or hurt political parties and, when possible, would have to be drawn along the boundaries that make up cities or counties. The amendments need 60 percent voter approval and are sponsored by a group called Fair Districts Florida, which has raised $4.2 million from mostly Democratic-leaning interests.

The goal of removing politics from redistricting, however, has predictably been met with its own heavy dose of political maneuvering.

Opponents argue the changes would hurt minorities’ ability to get elected.

“No question we would lose minorities, and not just in the congressional districts,” said Brown, one of the amendments’ most vocal opponents. “This is the only time trickle-down would really work. You have congressional, you have state Senate and House, and you have city council and school [board] districts. They would all be impacted.”

Brown and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., failed to get the amendments pulled from November’s ballot, when a lawsuit they filed was tossed by the Florida Supreme Court.

They and others argue that neatly drawn districts would not do enough to protect “minority-access districts,” which were drawn by the courts during the 1992 redistricting process. Those districts, which include Brown’s, are often oddly shaped and would not meet the amendments’ requirement that districts be “compact.”

Others, including the Florida State Conference of the NAACP and nearly every member of Florida’s Legislative Black Caucus, say the amendments would protect minority access. They point to language that states districts can’t “deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice.”

And, they argue, the ’92 redistricting shifted Democratic voters, many of them minorities, out of other districts and allowed the GOP to gain control of the Legislature by 1996 for the first time in nearly 120 years.

Supporters have not minced words about Brown’s opposition.

“It really boils down to one thing. Politicians have their own self-interests in mind,” said Leon W. Russell, legislative chairman of the Florida NAACP. “I’m sure that has a lot to do with it.”

Though Brown’s spat has been with the NAACP’s Florida branch, an e-mail obtained by The Times-Union indicates that the contentious issue has found its way to the desk of one of the national organization’s top members.

In the e-mail, a high-ranking staffer for U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a black Democrat from South Carolina, expresses concern about the NAACP’s support of the amendments to Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau.

“There are some of us, including the two black Congress members, who are very concerned that we black folks, you [NAACP] are contributing to a process that is going to screw our community in the short and long run,” wrote Tony Harrison, the director of outreach for Clyburn, of the Florida amendments.

Read the full e-mail sent from Tony Harrison

Neither Harrison or a spokeswoman from Clyburn returned requests for comment about the July 28 e-mail.

Brown says she finds the group’s unwillingness to speak out against the amendments puzzling.

“I’m not sure why they would be opposed to minority districts,” she said . “I have tried to get something in writing [saying] that they don’t support a policy that will impact African-American seats. I have not gotten that.”

Beyond the disagreement with the NAACP, Brown’s stance also puts her at odds with a movement largely supported by her own party. Of the $4.2 million raised by Fair District Florida, $1 million came from labor unions, $85,000 from Jacksonville lawyer Wayne Hogan, a Democrat, and $10,000 from U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla.

Brown has aligned herself with Protect Your Vote, a group started by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries Florida, pro-business lobbies that have generally backed the Republican Party.

The group is headed by Republican Kurt Browning, Florida’s former Secretary of State, and features heavyweight state Republicans: Rep. Dean Cannon, the incoming House Speaker; Don Gaetz, slated to become president of the Florida Senate in 2012; and state Rep. Will Weatherford, in line to Speaker in 2012.

The three have the ability to drum up some quick cash from Republican donors, and are listed on the group’s website as “persons acting on behalf of the organization.”

Ron Sachs, who heads the public relations firm working with Protect Your Votes, said that the group’s fund-raising is “broad based” and would rely on the efforts of a large number of people.

Brown chairs Protect Your Vote’s four-member African-American steering committee, which also includes outgoing state Sen. Al Lawson and state Sen. Gary Siplin, both Democrats.

Siplin and Lawson, who were on a committee that looked at the redistricting issue and are the only two members of the Legislative Black Caucus that did not endorsed the amendments. Highlighting the odd relationships popping up as the amendment fight unfolds, Lawson used talking points often employed by Republicans when explaining his opposition.

“I just don’t trust Fair Districts because they have all the unions pouring money in,” said Lawson, the top Democrat in the Senate and who has benefited from union campaign contributions throughout his political career. “The unions will basically control the process.”