Florida G.O.P. officials coordinated with Republican political consultants in an effort to quietly push for favorable state Senate maps, according to depositions and court documents. A lawsuit challenging the state Senate maps was filed in 2012, but it lay dormant as a separate suit over the state’s congressional maps winded its way through the courts. That lawsuit eventually reached the Florida Supreme Court, which ruled last week that eight congressional seats violated anti-gerrymandering provisions passed by voters in 2010.
After yielding to the congressional case, legal motions and depositions have resumed in the state Senate case, further revealing how political consultants approached a redistricting process that was fundamentally altered by constitutional amendments passed in 2010, which sought to eliminate incumbent protection and political favoritism.
During the congressional lawsuit, political consultants targeted by the plaintiffs argued they were being unfairly maligned because of their profession, and said their status as political professionals should not cost them the right to participate in government.
Full Article: Depositions show Florida GOP push for favorable Senate lines – Matt Dixon – POLITICO.