After a Herald-Tribune investigation, former Sarasota GOP Chair Bob Waecter admitted he submitted the "mystery map" that Sarasota County commissioners agreed to consider for redistricting.

Bob Waechter, the former Sarasota GOP chairman who was convicted of a misdemeanor charge stemming from a political dirty trick, has been secretly working behind the scenes to craft new Sarasota County Commission district maps, including one that commissioners voted last week to incorporate into their deliberations.

Waechter submitted proposed new boundaries for County Commission districts — dubbed the “Smith map” — anonymously through Sarasota County’s online redistricting survey portal, and last week commissioners voted to have consultant Kurt Spitzer use it as a template to craft a map that they will consider going forward.

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The Herald-Tribune uncovered a number of clues that tied Waechter to the Smith map.

When confronted by the Herald-Tribune with evidence that he was the mapmaker, Waechter first denied it. But he later sent an email admitting he drew the map.

“Sorry for my initial denial but you caught me off guard,” Waechter wrote, adding: “I did craft the map submitted as the ‘Smith’ map.”

Waechter’s involvement likely will lead to further suspicion that the redistricting process is being hijacked for various purposes, such as protecting the GOP's grip on the commission, ensuring powerful individuals and business interests continue to have influence on commissioners and helping incumbent board members keep their seats.

A real estate investor, Waechter has long been highly active in local politics and remains influential despite being arrested in 2012 for a political dirty trick. He was sentenced to three months of house arrest, two years of probation, 100 hours of community service and $5,000 in fines for making campaign contributions to Democrats on behalf of Republican Lourdes Ramirez — a slow-growth activist who has challenged development proposals. The scheme could have undermined Ramirez in a GOP primary by making it look like she supported Democrats.

Ramirez later lost twice to GOP Commissioner Al Maio, who was heavily backed by development interests.

Waechter pleaded guilty to two crimes, a third-degree felony violation of election laws and a first-degree misdemeanor fraud charge. But adjudication was withheld in the felony case and Waechter only was convicted of a misdemeanor.

Waechter said he submitted the map anonymously because he was worried that “attaching my name to it would have disparaged it.”

“I determined to not submit the map under my own name as that would have prejudiced any fair assessment of it,” Waechter wrote in his email.

But Waechter insists that the map is a good product.

“The map I came up with is balanced, fair and, with some minor adjustments, meets the criteria set out by” commissioners, Waechter wrote.

Notable division

Waechter’s map divides northern Sarasota County into two districts, with one covering coastal areas to the west (District 2) and another covering inland areas to the east (District 1).

This division is notable for two reasons.

District 1 currently is held by Commissioner Mike Moran, who is strongly supported by the Sarasota GOP and local business interests aligned with Waechter. Moran’s daughter is the executive director of the Sarasota GOP.

When Sarasota County voters in amending the county charter moved last year from a system that elects commissioners countywide to one that only allows voters in each commission district to cast ballots in a race, Moran’s reelection prospects dimmed. District 1 currently has more Democrats than Republicans, presenting Moran with the prospect of a tough race under the single member district system.

But under Waechter’s proposed map, it appears that District 1 would become solidly Republican and Moran would have a safe seat. Meanwhile, it appears that District 2 would move from a Republican tilt under the current configuration to a Democratic tilt.

District 2 is held by GOP Commissioner Christian Ziegler, who has voted against redistricting, saying it should wait until after the 2020 Census.

Some observers have speculated that the person behind the Smith map was trying to punish Ziegler for voting against redistricting. Ziegler, although he is a leading figure in the GOP locally and statewide, is not as closely aligned with local development interests.

It’s notable that Waechter’s map would give Democrats a commission district that they would have a good chance of winning, thereby undercutting the argument that the exercise is a Republican gerrymander.

Additionally, Waechter noted his map resembles one submitted by Jono Miller, a Democrat and community activist who ran for the County Commission in 2008. The similarity between Waechter’s map, the Miller map and others submitted by the public could be seen as evidence that there were no partisan intentions behind the redistricting effort.

But it’s also notable that Ziegler is not up for re-election until 2022, so the boundaries for that district could be changed again after the 2020 Census to make it more Republican. Moran, on the other hand, is up for re-election in 2020 and must run in whatever district is approved this year.

Additionally, it’s possible that there will be an effort to repeal single-member districts, which commissioners, the Sarasota GOP and members of the business community staunchly opposed. Making Ziegler’s district — instead of Moran’s district — the Democratic-leaning one likely would ensure total GOP control of the commission until Ziegler is up for election in 2022, buying time to get rid of single-member districts.

Waechter’s map, and maps submitted by Miller and others, also reshape commission districts in central and southern Sarasota County. Waechter’s pairs most of North port with Englewood in District 5. In doing that, the map removes most of North Port from District 3, which currently is held by Commissioner Nancy Detert.

Detert is a Venice resident.

Some have speculated that a credible opponent from North Port could give Detert a tough race if the lines of her district don’t change. North Port voters could be inclined to favor having a fellow city resident on the board for the first time in years.

‘No input’

Both Detert and Moran pressed last week to have the Smith map included as an option for commissioners to consider going forward.

Moran was the first one to allude to the Smith map during last week’s meeting. Detert then mentioned the map created by “whoever Mr. Smith is” and noted it shared similarities with other maps submitted by the public. Detert suggested creating a “hybrid of the maps that were submitted” by the public.

Spitzer then noted that some of the public maps have wildly different populations in each commission district and said “the Smith version is one that would be easier to work with.”

Moran seized on those comments.

“I don’t want to put words in your mouth, are you suggesting that that bottom middle one would be the easiest — I don’t want to put words in your mouth on this — are you suggesting that bottom middle one is the easiest one to get to zero or as close to zero?” Moran said, referencing the Smith map and Spitzer’s assertion that it did the best job of evening out the population in each district.

Moran later said that “I want to see at least (the) Smith” map considered in the commission’s redistricting deliberations.

Detert then made a motion to officially include “what’s known as the Smith map” in future redistricting discussions.

Waechter said he did not draw his map to benefit Moran or Detert and did not speak to either of them — or any other commissioner — about it. He also disputed that there was any attempt to punish Ziegler.

“I think highly of Christian Ziegler,” Waechter said. “He is a skilled politician and is becoming a very good county commissioner and I have confidence in his ability to win reelection.”

Detert said she had no input on the Smith map and did not know Waechter was behind it.

“I think I’ve talked to the man twice in my entire lifetime,” she said.

Detert pushed back on the suggestion that Waechter’s involvement tainted the proposal and the entire redistricting process.

“As long as he’s a citizen of Sarasota County he’s entitled to submit a map if he wants to; we don’t do a background check on people who submit maps because the ultimate responsibility is ours,” Detert said. “What we accept will ultimately tell the tale, not what’s submitted or by whom.”

Detert said Waechter’s map is just a starting point and she expects that whatever final product commissioners consider adopting will be significantly different.

“We still have a lot of work to do before we can come up with a map that suits the board as our map,” she said.

Detert said she likes that Waechter’s map, another submitted by former Commissioner Carolyn Mason — which Waechter also said he worked on — and Miller’s map craft the districts in a way that makes them more compact and more understandable in terms of geography.

“It’s the concept, not the map,” Detert said. “It’s the concept of having clearer lines. I don’t care who drew the map.”

Detert said she’s not worried about the appearance of having someone with Waechter’s highly partisan and controversial background involved in crafting the map that commissioners might base their final product on.

“If I worried about the appearance of everything — this is why we have a frozen government,” she said.

Raising suspicion

But Anjenys Gonzalez-Eilert, executive director of the good government advocacy group Common Cause Florida, said that Sarasota County commissioners are inviting suspicion about their redistricting process just by accepting anonymous maps.

“When you’re allowing anonymity that lacks transparency and allows people to question the motives behind the lines,” said Gonzalez-Eilert.

The Herald-Tribune uncovered Waechter’s involvement in the Smith map by digging into public records and other clues.

Waechter has not hidden his interest in redistricting. He was one of the first people to fill out the county’s online redistricting survey on Sept. 20, giving his real name, email account and phone number.

“Redistricting is essential to insure everyone's vote counts with the same weight,” Waechter wrote, spelling ensure wrong.

It was 10 days later — on Sept. 30 — that “Agood Citizen” also filled out the survey and submitted a map that later was attributed to Adam Smith (a name shared with the Scottish economist who wrote “The Wealth of Nations,” who coined the phrase “invisible hand” and who is often called “The Father of Capitalism”) and came to be known as the “Smith map.”

“Redistricting is essential now that we have moved to Single Member Districts to insure every citizen has equal representation on the County Commission,” wrote Agood Citizen, also spelling ensure wrong.

There were other links between the two survey submissions. Waechter’s survey submission described the type of map he’d like to see commissioners adopt.

“North Sarasota County should be two districts, East and West,” Waechter wrote. “Then two districts for central Sarasota County, North Central and South Central. Finally a fifth district for South Sarasota County (Englewood and North Port).”

That’s exactly the map that was submitted by “Agood Citizen,” aka Adam Smith.

The Herald-Tribune also looked into the email address that was listed as the only contact info for “Agood Citizen.”

That email address — sarasotafactum@gmail.com — also was used to alert Sarasota County Assistant Administrator Brad Johnson to the map’s submission.

County officials attached the name Adam Smith to the map because that’s the name Gmail associates with the sarasotafactum@gmail.com account.

Waechter commented on an article on heraldtribune.com roughly two years ago. The computer IP address — a numeric designation that identifies its location on the internet — associated with Waechter’s Herald-Tribune comment is the same as the IP address for roughly 20 other comments, most from an account that uses the sarasotafactum@gmail.com email address.

The computer IP address associated with Waechter’s redistricting survey submission also was the same as the IP address associated with the survey submission that included the Smith map.

There were other clues that the sarasotafactum@gmail.com address is associated with someone keenly interested in local politics, and leans Republican.

Commission to review

A Herald-Tribune reporter received an email from sarasotafactum@gmail.com in 2017. The email complained that the newspaper was focusing on Republicans’ use of political action committees, and not giving equal attention to Democrats.

“It turns out that its not the republicans at all that are the biggest utilizer’s of PAC’s in Sarasota, not by a long shot,” wrote the individual, who identified himself as John even though Gmail also identified him as Adam Smith in that email.

The email also complains about “Hit Pieces on republican candidate Mike Moran.”

More recently, sarasotafactum@gmail.com sent an email to members of the media, Sarasota County commissioners and Assistant County Administrator Johnson with the subject line: “Dems put finger on scales of public opinion survey, solicit ‘stuff the box’ responses.”

The email complained that the county’s redistricting survey — which generated 2,000 responses and comments that overwhelmingly opposed redistricting — was being manipulated by the Sarasota County Democratic Party, which had encouraged Democrats to fill out the survey.

Spitzer is using Waechter’s map as a template for creating a fourth map showing alternative district boundaries. Commissioners will review it, and the three maps Spitzer created on his own, at a meeting later this month and decide whether to pick one or more of them to advertise for a public hearing on Nov. 5.

The Herald-Tribune reached out to all five county commissioners to get their thoughts on Waechter’s involvement in redistricting.

Commission Chair Charles Hines said in an email that “at this point I do not have anything new to add other than what we discussed at the public meeting.”

Ziegler said Waechter’s involvement doesn’t change his opinion on redistricting.

“I’ve been against redistricting and I’m going to continue to be against it,” Ziegler said.

Moran and Maio did not respond to messages.