Brown subpoena by Feds, Carroll says investigation might be linked to endorsements

Yesterday, the Florida Times-Union reported that Congresswoman Corrine Brown received a subpoena from U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) officials while eating at a barbeque restaurant in Jacksonville. USDOJ declined to comment on the matter when asked by media representatives.

Brown suggested that the action was part of a political attack against her.

“The 5th congressional district is under attack through the redistricting process, and now it is under siege by other political forces,” she said. “It is not surprising that every time we go through the redistricting process some tangential investigation comes up.”

Brown has filed a federal lawsuit against the redrawn map of the Fifth Congressional District (CD5). CD5, which Brown has represented since 1992, ran north-south from Duval County to Orange County until the Florida Supreme Court voted 5-2 on December 2 to approve a new set of Congressional district maps in compliance with the Fair Districts Amendment. The new maps included a redrawn District 5 that runs from Duval County to Gadsden County.

The new CD5 remains a minority-access seat with about 45 percent black voters. But Brown says “the base map entirely dilutes and disperses minority communities.”

Both black justices on the court, E.C. Perry and Peggy Quince, said that the new District 5 is fair to minority voters. Perry, in a concurring opinion that Quince joined, criticized “line-drawers who create districts for political advantage, but disingenuously cloak their explanations in the language of protecting minority voting rights.”

Former Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll said the federal investigation involving Brown might be linked to either the lawsuit or Brown’s political endorsements. According to News4Jax:

"News4Jax political analyst Jennifer Carroll [said] the investigation could be related to Brown's legal challenge to redistricting, or it could be something more serious, perhaps related to 'Brown's Quick Picks' -- endorsements Brown gives other candidates during elections.

"Carroll said concerns have been raised about how those endorsements are obtained.

"'The tone in itself that it's politically-motivated could lend itself that her involvement in the last campaign for the City Council races, that she was physically picking sides,' Carroll said."