Florida House will continue to fight Fair Districts amendment in court

Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, told reporters yesterday that the House plans to join two members of Florida’s congressional delegation in appealing a judge’s decision to reject a lawsuit that sought to block one of Florida’s Fair Districts amendments from taking effect.

Cannon has been hit with criticism for the Florida House’s participation in the lawsuit, originally filed by U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, and Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami. A federal judge threw out that lawsuit three weeks ago.

Earlier this week, Progress Florida — a group supportive of the Fair Districts amendments, which were created to limit the Legislature’s ability to gerrymander districts — launched a petition calling on Cannon to stop spending taxpayer dollars to fight a measure approved by 63 percent of Florida voters last fall.

“Speaker Cannon’s self-serving, taxpayer-funded crusade to defy the will of Florida voters is a case study in why Floridians are cynical about politics,” said Progress Florida Executive Director Mark Ferrulo in a statement issued after Cannon’s announcement yesterday. “Florida taxpayer money is being used to defeat a taxpayer-approved constitutional amendment in a lawsuit defended with taxpayer money. You can’t make this stuff up.”