Judge Tosses Lake's Congressional District
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MIAMI, CLEVELAND AWAIT LEBRON’S DECISION, SPORTS B1 LEESBURG, FLORIDA Friday, July 11, 2014 www.dailycommercial.com ELECTIONS: GOP concerned over ISRAEL: 85 dead in Gaza as Gov. Scott’s campaign missteps, A2 military offensive continues, A8 Judge tosses Lake’s congressional district GARY FINEOUT Associated Press Ruling says Florida Legislature broke law while drawing up new maps TALLAHASSEE — The Flor- it drew up political maps in because the Legislature is ex- Voters in 2010 overwhelm- that legislators used a “shad- ida Legislature illegally drew 2012. He rejected arguments pected to appeal the decision ingly approved a constitu- ow” process to conceal the the state’s congressional dis- from top legislative leaders to the state Supreme Court. tional amendment that said role of GOP consultants who tricts to primarily benefit the that they had done nothing But ultimately the changes legislators could no longer helped craft the final maps Republican Party, a judge wrong. Lewis was particular- could affect the political ca- draw up districts to favor in- adopted two years ago. ruled Thursday as he ordered ly irked by Florida’s 10th Dis- reers of Florida’s congressio- cumbents or a political par- Lewis ruled that two dis- them redrawn. trict, which includes most nal delegation. ty, a practice known as “ger- tricts violated the new stan- Judge Terry Lewis on Thurs- of Lake County and is repre- A spokesman for House rymandering.” day found that the state’s Re- sented by Daniel Webster. Speaker Will Weatherford said A coalition of groups, in- dards: a sprawling district publican-controlled Legis- The ruling is not expected Thursday night that the House cluding the League of Women held by U.S. Rep. Corinne lature broke the law when to disrupt this year’s elections was reviewing the decision. Voters, sued and contended SEE DISTRICTS | A2 ASTATULA Lawsuits pile up in Mascotte Six complaints accuse city officials of wrongdoing ROXANNE BROWN | Staff Writer “If our attorneys tell [email protected] me that they have any Mascotte has be- issues or concerns come inundated by a half-dozen lawsuits and with city policies or formal complaints filed personnel actions, against it by former then we will take any and current employees who say they have been required steps to wronged in some way correct their concerns. by city officials. City Manager Jim Gleason Five of the actions are responsibility or to not PHOTOS BY BRETT LE BLANC / DAILY COMMERCIAL from one current and four former employ- look at your own ac- Bob Garber, a 76-year-old Tavares resident, fishes at Lake Idamere Park in Tavares on Tuesday. ees who say they were tions is to blame some- either harassed or dis- one else. criminated against for “Since nobody likes Old bill comes due being white, black or fe- government, we be- male and/or were mis- come an easy target treated in some way. for the disgruntled and Fuel spill cleanup needed to preserve lake to cost nearly $500K One of these former the press is duped into LIVI STANFORD | Staff Writer ring of recovery wells employees even filed a playing the game in [email protected] (were) installed around second suit, saying he writing stories without asked for public records the ending.” he cleanup of a fuel the perimeter, to hold the contamination from from the city and was The suits have been spill at the Astatula told it would cost him filed in Lake County Refueling Facility spreading further,” T Stivender told board $11,000. and at the federal level. more than 20 years ago “I personally think Mayor Tony Rosado is costing Lake County members. Despite those efforts, in our society today, said he is concerned an estimated $490,000 we have a lot of people about the mounting to clean up. he said, “contamination has spread beyond the who think a suit is the number of suits and The $490,000 price answer to all things,” perimeter walls.” complaints. tag for the cleanup is an City Manager Jim Glea- “It is migrating to the “Zero would be ideal unwelcome addition to son said about the and even one or two is a budget that is already lake slowly,” he said. County officials are concerned that a fuel spill from Astatula half-dozen suits and less concerning than six projected to have a $15 Stivender said the complaints. “We live to- will threaten the environment at Lake Idamere in Tavares. fuel spill was discov- now,” he said. million shortfall. Coun- day where individuals The actions began ty commissioners must Director Jim Stivender and keep it from Lake ered prior to 1992 in do not take responsibil- informed county com- Idamere an estimat- on-site landfill moni- when two former police decide whether to raise ity for their own actions officers — both white missioners this week ed 400 yards from the toring wells at the facili- taxes or make substan- and people are looking — filed a suit against tial cuts to services. of the efforts needed to source. ty, located off of County to blame others, so the County Public Works mitigate the fuel spill Since August 2011, “a SEE SPILL | A2 easiest way to not take SEE LAWSUITS | A2 GET DOWN AND TRASH TO TREASURE FOOD TRUCK DIRTY AT RANCH YARD SALE ‘N FLICK NIGHT Rock on Adventures Ranch, The Recreation Depart- Food Truck ‘N Flick WEEKEND’S 17701 Old YMCA Road, ment will host a Trash Night starts at 5:30 1 Clermont, has a Fun/Obsta- 2 to Treasure sale from 8 3 p.m. Saturday with cle/Mud/Training Day from 9 a.m. a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the live entertainment at 510 TOP to 3 p.m. Saturday. More than 50 Leesburg Community Build- Main St. in Leesburg. Food obstacles to train and play on, or ing, 109 E Dixie Ave. Tables vendors begin serving at 6 just watch others get down and and chairs may be rented for p.m. and the free movie “Elf” 3 dirty. $10. Call 352-728-9885. starts at 8:15 p.m. INDEX DIVERSIONS C5 OBITUARIES A4 Vol. 138 LEGALS C9 SPORTS B1 TODAY’S WEATHER CLASSIFIED C9 No. 192 50¢ BUSINESS C6 VOICES A9 Detailed forecast 89˚/75˚ COMICS C4 4 sections CROSSWORDS C9 NATION A5 WORLD A6 on page A10. Partly sunny with storms D004222 A2 DAILY COMMERCIAL Friday, July 11, 2014 FLORIDA Some in GOP worried over Scott LOTTERY BRENDAN FARRINGTON donor Mike Fernandez and GARY FINEOUT complained in emails JULY 10 Associated Press leaked to the media CASH 3 ...............................................9-8-9 that campaign staffers TALLAHASSEE — Re- Afternoon ..........................................7-5-2 publican Gov. Rick Scott mocked Mexican accents is a multimillionaire and — which the campaign PLAY 4 .............................................3-7-0-5 flies in a private jet, yet his denied. Curt Anderson, a Afternoon .......................................3-5-5-3 Washington D.C.-based campaign decided to criti- JULY 9 cize Democratic challeng- Scott adviser, responded er Charlie Crist as an elitist by insulting Fernandez in FANTASY 5 ........................... 4-12-20-24-26 for wearing a Rolex watch. an interview with Politico. FLORIDA LOTTO ................. 3-8-12-13-20-32 Democrats pointed out Fernandez had personally POWERBALL.................... 9-25-42-55-57-14 the hypocrisy, and the en- contributed $1.4 million suing media coverage re- to the political committee minded voters that Scott’s DAILY COMMERCIAL FILE PHOTO formed to re-elect Scott net worth dwarfed Crist’s. Gov. Rick Scott speaks at the Mathias Food Service and and raised millions more. THE NEWSPAPER OF CHOICE FOR LAKE AND SUMTER COUNTIES SINCE 1875 Several more of Scott’s at- Equipment Company in Leesburg on June 4. The result? Fernandez The Daily Commercial (ISSN 0896-1042) is published daily for $90.74 per year (plus Florida sales tax) by Halifax Media Group tacks backfired, and the of doing things. It’s like up a round table to dis- quit as campaign finance at 212 East Main Street, Leesburg, Florida. Periodicals postage is chairman. paid at the USPO, Leesburg, FL. POSTMASTER: Send all address campaign made other hitting your head against cuss it in heavily Demo- changes to The Daily Commercial, P.O. Box 490007, Leesburg, FL gaffes, including alienating the wall — they’re going cratic Palm Beach Coun- “The missteps I think 34749-0007. All material contained in this edition is property of have to do with bringing The Daily Commercial and is protected under the copyright laws of one of its biggest donors. to do what they want to ty, the gathered seniors the United States of America. Reproduction is forbidden without Polls show the two can- do and you let them go.” praised the plan. in outsiders to help run written consent from the publisher. the campaign that are not didates are roughly tied Among the notable mis- Greg Blair, a spokesman HOW TO REACH US familiar with the Flori- MISSED YOUR NEWSPAPER? ahead of November’s gen- fires by Scott’s office and for Scott’s campaign, did REDELIVERY NOT AVAILABLE IN da terrain, and it’s easy ALTOONA OR SUMTER eral election. But the mis- his campaign: not dispute it had made 365-8200 to make mistakes,” said Call 352-787-0600 in Lake steps have been noticed ■ Scott bashed Crist for errors, but said recent In Sumter County: by the people Scott will Daniel Smith, a Universi- County or 877-702-0600 in 877-702-0600 saying he backs in-state polls show Scott no longer Sumter County 6 a.m. to 10 need in a tight re-election: ty of Florida political sci- a.m.