Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Martin DyckmanFebruary 8, 2016

His reputation as a harsh critic of the Voting Rights Act and an advocate for corporations preceded John Roberts to his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2005. As chief justice, he said, he would be like a baseball umpire impartially calling balls and strikes. “Umpires don’t make the rules. They apply […]

Guest AuthorOctober 21, 2015

Redistricting. Reapportionment. New voting maps. Dull. Boring. Eyes glaze over. It’s tough to follow – and care about – the legal battles that have been going on for years over Florida’s voting districts. But on Tuesday night I heard two attorneys who have been at the heart of the redistricting fight tell a riveting tale […]

Julie DelegalSeptember 1, 2015

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown has filed a federal lawsuit opposing the reshaping of the district she represents, Florida’s CD 5. Her legal action has drawn the attention of voters’ groups including the League of Women Voters, the group that led the charge for voters to pass the state’s Fair Districts Amendments. Congresswoman Brown contends that […]

Martin DyckmanAugust 18, 2015

To appreciate one reason why Donald Trump is thumping Jeb! in the polls, substitute a question mark for the exclamation point. Jeb? isn’t doing so well at persuading people that what they think they heard isn’t what he meant to say. It doesn’t take a degree in psychology to know that someone’s first, unguarded remark […]

Diane RobertsAugust 18, 2015

OCCUPIED TALLAHASSEE – They stamp their feet, they scream till they’re sick, and hold their breath till they’re blue. They act like 5-year-olds caught with their grotty little paws in the cookie jar, their faces covered in crumbs, as they swear they didn’t do anything wrong. The Special – or Remedial – Session. While all […]

Diane RobertsAugust 17, 2015

OCCUPIED TALLAHASSEE – They stamp their feet, they scream till they’re sick, and hold their breath till they’re blue. They act like 5-year-olds caught with their grotty little paws in the cookie jar, their faces covered in crumbs, as they swear they didn’t do anything wrong. The Special – or Remedial – Session. While all […]

Julie DelegalJuly 14, 2015

In light of the recent Florida Supreme Court decision on gerrymandering, and given the rationale that justified the illegal redistricting lines in the first place, the words of playwright Tennessee Williams have never been more on point. “There ain’t nothin’ more powerful than the odor of mendacity. You can smell it,” Williams wrote. “It smells […]

Peter SchorschJuly 13, 2015

The Florida Supreme Court ruled last week that the state’s congressional maps don’t meet the requirements of a voter-approved constitutional amendment prohibiting political lines being drawn to favor incumbents or a political party. The court ordered the Legislature to draw the maps again. These are the 10 big questions now looming over the Florida political landscape: 1. […]

Martin DyckmanJuly 7, 2015

It is amusing, in a wry sort of way, to witness the tantrums and hear the gnashing of teeth in right-wing circles over the several big cases they have just lost at the U.S. Supreme Court. Spare them no sympathy. You might think that losing has become more than they can bear. But in fact, […]

Martin DyckmanMay 25, 2015

The obituaries for Helen Gordon Davis correctly recounted what one called her “trailblazing” career in the Florida Legislature, where in 1974 she became one of very few women – the first from Hillsborough County – in what a colleague famously called “the land of the Bubbas.” She weathered the sexism and condescension and compiled a […]

Tag: Voting Rights Act

Martin Dyckman: Justice John Roberts has hurt minorities, consumers, democracy

Tom O’Hara: Attorneys tell an inspiring tale about a dull topic

Julie Delegal: Could Florida have 2 minority-access districts for the price of one?

Martin Dyckman: Find the real Jeb Bush in his unguarded gaffes

Diane Roberts: Democracy in Florida remains lost in spite of new maps

Diane Roberts: Democracy in Florida remains lost in spite of new maps

Julie Delegal: For voters in Florida, map-drawing mendacity nearly killed democracy

10 big questions facing Florida politics in wake of the redistricting decision

Martin Dyckman: Supreme Court more often goes astray

Martin Dyckman: Helen Gordon Davis, an early victim of racial gerrymandering in Florida