Redistricting legal team mostly GOP loyalists: Team members have ties to the Bushes, Feeney

TALLAHASSEE -- The legal team supervising House and Senate mapmakers redrawing Florida's political districts is a conglomerate of Republican party loyalists and administration insiders even though they are paid by taxpayers.

One lawyer on the team fended off a Miami-Dade recount on behalf of President Bush.

Another represented Gov. Jeb Bush in the legal wrangle over absentee ballots.

A third is married to Gov. Bush's reelection campaign manager and a fourth was in business with one of House Speaker Tom Feeney's top advisors.

The GOP-dominated group was amassed by Feeney to ensure that the district maps crafted by Republican leaders in the House stick. Republican leaders in the Senate have assembled a similar, taxpayer-supported legal team. Democrats, forced to take a back-row seat in the process, have their own attorneys, paid for out of private donations.