Miami commissioners divided residents by race so they could hold on to power | Opinion
When the Miami City Commission redrew its electoral districts last year, there was a nagging feeling that public input was more spectacle than substantive — meant to show the city was listening to its constituents when, in reality, it was the interests of commissioners that reigned.
Those five commissioners should have listened to complaints that neighborhoods — most remarkably, the city’s oldest one, Coconut Grove, and the historic Black West Grove — were split. Dividing neighborhoods into different districts is a sneaky way to dilute residents’ voices. In the case of the Grove, its citizens are among the most engaged in the city of Miami — something that rubs some elected officials the wrong way.
It was through great pain — a lawsuit and a U.S. District court judge’s order this month — that Miami is now forced to redraw district maps before the November elections.
Judge K. Michael Moore agreed with a coalition of civic organizations who argued in court the districts were drawn to meet “racial quotas” in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The redistricting of political maps happens every decade, when U.S. Census population numbers are released to reapportion political representation.
“[Race] was the predominant factor in packing certain districts with as many Hispanic and Black residents as possible. It was the predominant factor in maintaining racial ‘purity’ with the ‘same type of last name and faces,’” the lawsuit filed by American Civil Liberties Union attorneys in December stated. Two branches of the NAACP, nonprofit Engage Miami and Coconut Grove community group GRACE are among the plaintiffs.
3+1+1
It’s been the status quo since the city began using districts in 1997 that the City Commission has had three Hispanic members, a Black commissioner and a white, non-Hispanic commissioner — though a Colombian-American woman was elected in District 2 this year. In Miami’s tribal politics, this has been accepted as the way of doing things. But it doesn’t make it legal.
As Moore wrote in his ruling, Miami “sorts its citizens based on race.” His findings were partially based on commissioners’ own public comments. For example, Joe Carollo, who’s Cuban American, said last February that if the city didn’t break up neighborhoods, “The outcome of that would be that guys like — that look like us, with last names like us, in the near future might not be elected necessarily from the districts that we represent.”
Carollo’s comment hints at something deeper than the use of “racial quotas.” Likely stronger than ethnic motivation was commissioners’ desire to maintain power by keeping their own electoral strongholds within their districts.
This is the classic case of elected officials picking their voters. Keeping an ethnic makeup ensures that the constituents most likely to vote for city leaders — and their political heirs once they leave office — continue to do so. This is the biggest flaw with the redistricting process for all levels of government: When you leave the fox in charge of the hen house, the fox will feast.
Reaping assets
Miami’s redistricting process delivered other added benefits for commissioners. Christine King’s District 5 kept downtown property that could be developed into a luxury hotel and entertainment complex, and Alex Díaz de la Portilla’s District 1 picked up waterfront property along the Miami River.
Carollo — whom on Thursday a federal-court jury ordered to pay $63.5 million to two businessmen who accused him of retaliatory acts — was the greatest beneficiary. His District 3 clearly was redesigned to include the Coconut Grove home he’s owned for 20 years. The house previously was in District 2, and Carollo could not legally live in it while representing District 3, so he rented a home in Little Havana, where he said he lived.
Maps the plaintiffs submitted to the city would undo that self-serving change. Most important, they reunite neighborhoods like Allapattah, Coconut Grove, Shenandoah, Flagami and downtown, the Herald reported.
The plaintiffs and city officials are expected to go into mediation to come up with new districts before three commission seats are up for election in the fall. Expect plenty of pushback from city officials, who still act like they did nothing wrong.
But they did, and now, as penance, they are under court orders to work with the same community groups they ignored the first time around.
