Commissions quick to abide to candidate's demands

Brooksville, Fla. - Political gamesmanship takes on a new meaning with commissioners sudden request for changes to local redistricting maps.

A last minute change to redistricting maps was ordered by Hernando County Commissioners after cries of Sunshine Rule violations came from a local candidate on November 15.  At a prior meeting, a local civil rights organization requested changes be made to "Plan B" map but commissioners ignored the group.

Jason Sager, candidate for county commissioner, submitted a  document to Hernando County Commissioners at the November 15th meeting, demanding changes be made to redistricting maps.  Sager, referring to his multiple-page document as a brief, accused county planning staff of Sunshine violations during his ten-minute tirade at the podium.  He was given additional time to speak by Chairman James Adkins after Sager's supporter's agreed to relinquish their time.

After a heated discussion, county commissioners were quick to abide to Sager's demand to change the redistricting maps.  The change to mapping was given the green light even though county attorney Garth Coller challenged the charges of Sunshine violations,  saying Sager's charges were unfounded and baseless.

Officials at the local branch of NAACP were clearly questioning the actions of the county commissioners after they agreed to Sager's demands.

"I'll just say it like it is, this is gerrymandering." Touchton said. "The law doesn't mean anything to commissioners."

Touchton, secretary for  NAACP / Branch 5092, was denied a similar request for map revisions at the November 3rd  Hernando County Commissioner workshop.  She asked for revisions to commissioner's "Plan B" to enable population be within one percent between districts.  She presented the NAACP plan at the workshop that made all five districts equal within a one percent margin.

Commissioners denied the NAACP request, saying there wasn't adequate time before the December 6 deadline.

"During the  general workshop, commissioners gave more weight to discussion on impact fee reduction than to the issue of redistricting," Suzanne Touchton said.

Commissioners ordered Hernando County Planning Director Ron Pianta to provide updates to maps for Tuesday's meeting to satisfy Sager's request.  New maps will be presented  at 10:45 a.m. for commissioner's final approval.