Nelson, Hastings Sue DNC To Stop Sanctions

By BILLY HOUSE and WILLIAM MARCH The Tampa Tribune

Published: Oct 5, 2007

WASHINGTON - A refusal by the Democratic National Committee to seat Florida's delegates to the national convention next year would be an act of discrimination against black voters, a lawsuit filed Wednesday contends.

The insertion of race into the fight between Florida Democrats and their national party may be the most incendiary aspect of legal papers filed in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee by Florida's Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee Hastings of Miramar.

The DNC imposed its sanctions against the state after Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature moved the state's primary to Jan. 29 in violation of its party primary calendar that guarantees Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina will be first-in-the-nation contests.

DNC officials immediately panned the lawsuit, saying in a written statement the complaint contains no valid legal basis for challenging the national party, including its claims that the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 protecting against racial discrimination would be violated.

Some legal analysts agreed.

In their lawsuit, Nelson and Hastings argue up to 4.2 million culturally and economically diverse Florida voters should not be denied a meaningful voice in picking a Democratic nominee for president.

Suit Adds Race To Legal Arguments

And in what is likely to generate the most attention - or embarrassment for national Democrats - the lawsuit claims "a disparate and discriminatory impact on African-American voters" would result.

"Maybe 80-something percent of African-Americans [in Florida] are registered as Democrats," Nelson said during a U.S. Capitol news conference to announce the lawsuit. "And so by abolishing votes of Democrats in a presidential primary, you are disproportionately abolishing the votes of a particular minority."

That's a violation of the federal Voting Rights Act, Nelson said. Added Hastings: "We are shedding light on the situation, not for purposes of trying to embarrass the Democratic National Committee, but trying to correct an inherent wrong that they have perpetrated."

Seriously compounding the disproportionate effect upon black voting, according to the lawsuit, is that voters will be denied interaction with presidential candidates because the DNC also has barred campaign appearances in Florida except for private fundraisers.

Joining the two lawmakers as a third plaintiff in the legal action is Janet Taylor, the only black member of the Hendry County Board of Commissioners.

The 26-page complaint specifically names as defendant Howard Dean, DNCchairman. It also names Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning, but that's only a technical legal requirement because it's his job to oversee the taxpayer-funded $18 million primary, Nelson said.

The lawsuit seeks a court declaration that the ban on Florida's delegates violates law, and an injunction on the DNC from imposing such a sanction.

Election Law Experts Weigh In

Richard Hasen, an expert on election law at Loyola Law School Los Angeles, said the constitutional and voting rights arguments that Nelson and Hastings are making are long shots, at best.

"And this does not actually exclude anyone from voting on the basis of race … it's not as though they [the DNC] is trying to become a white-only party, as they [some political parties] have in the past in the South," Hasen said.

But Nelson argued the facts in this case are unique.

Columbia University School of Law Professor Nathaniel Persily, an expert on elections law who consulted with Nelson's and Hastings' attorney in this case, said there are Supreme Court cases that can give Floridians some hope.

He said courts also have held that an individual has a constitutional right to vote in a primary election and that a political party cannot take actions that result in denying, diluting or diminishing that vote.

The Nelson-Hastings lawsuit isn't the only legal action Floridians have launched against the DNC. That could lead to questions over which case should be given preference by the courts or whether they should be consolidated.

Tampa-based political consultant Victor DiMaio complained Thursday that Nelson's and Hastings' legal papers only "regurgitate" what his lawsuit filed in federal court in Tampa asserts.

State Sen. Steve Geller also has said he is considering filing another lawsuit.

Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. Attorney for South Florida, who prepared the lawsuit for Nelson and Hastings at no cost, said he is aware of DiMaio's lawsuit, and has discussed Geller's potential suit with Geller.

But he said all are pursuing different "legal theories," and the Nelson-Hastings litigation should stand on its own.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at 202-662-7673 or at bhouse@tampatrib.com. Reporter William March can be reached at 813-259-7761 or wmarch @tampatrib.com.