Pass The Pledge

ALBANY — The bill is signed, the maps are drawn. Redistricting is over — right?

Not quite. There are still several legal hurdles before the once-a-decade process of setting new boundaries for state and federal legislators in New York is completely behind us, including a lawsuit lodged by Senate Democrats.

The package also needs approval by the federal Department of Justice.

“It may be the ninth inning, but we’ve got a couple of at-bats left,” said Sen. Mike Gianaris, D-Queens.

On Wednesday, a panel of three federal judges rejected a motion to dismiss its supervision of New York redistricting. The same judges appointed a special master to draw the state’s congressional districts, the number of which shrunk from 29 to 27, after state officials on the legislative task force called LATFOR reached a stalemate.

Another hearing is set for Friday. The federal court is staying active as a sort of safety valve in case other challenges annul the state-level lines.

The most prominent challenge, in which some of Gianaris’ Democratic colleagues are plaintiffs, is a case challenging the decision by Senate Republicans to increase the chamber to 63 members. Citing population increases, the GOP added a seat skirting the western and southern edges of the Capital Region from Amsterdam to Kingston.

Democrats contend the Republicans on LATFOR who drew the Senate lines improperly interpreted constitutional formulas, and located the seat in an area where Republicans had the best shot of winning. Republicans contend they are within the confines of the state constitution and all relevant court cases.

Last week, a state judge in Manhattan agreed with them, but said their decision to use two formulas instead of one was “disturbing.” The case is now before the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, which will hear arguments next Thursday.

“This litigation is a normal part of the redistricting process,” said Sen. Mike Nozzolio, LATFOR’s Republican co-chair. “We prepared ourselves in developing a plan that met every tenet of the state and federal constitutions and the federal Voting Rights Act, so we’re very confident.”

The bar is quite high for overturning legislative action, said Michael McDonald, a redistricting expert who teaches at George Mason University and has participated in previous New York court cases.

“If there’s any muddle — if it’s at all discretionary — the courts are going to defer to the political process,” he said.

The state lines cannot completely take effect until either the federal Department of Justice or another court, in Washington, determines they don’t diminish the voting power of racial minorities covered under the Voting Rights Act.

Minority advocates have complained to the DOJ about how lines on Long Island divide communities of color. The advocates point out there are nine senators from the area, all of them white Republican men.

Assemblyman Karim Camara, a Brooklyn Democrat who chairs the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, wrote the DOJ to complain about the Long Island lines and the way Senate districts in predominately white upstate areas that traditionally elect Republicans are drawn with fewer people than more diverse districts in downstate areas that typically vote Democrat.

“The Senate majority wanted to create a new white majority district in the hope of maintaining their majority,” Camara wrote of the additional seat.

But McDonald was skeptical of the chance of success there, too. He said the DOJ — controlled by Democrats, including a black president and attorney general, for the first time since the Voting Rights Act was signed — has not been particularly proactive in its enforcement.

And if any challenge were successful, it would create a chaotic political scene.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed off on lines that he admitted were less than ideal after essentially trading them for items on his fiscal and reform agenda.

If that plan is overruled, McDonald said, “The politics become difficult.”

(Source: timesunion.com)

Statement from Senate Democratic Conference Spokesman Mike Murphy, 

“This confirms everyone’s worst fears and proves that legislators are incapable of drawing their own districts in a fair manner.  What the Senate Republicans are doing is illegal and no reading of the State Constitution would allow a new seat to be created. We are witnessing the depths that the Republicans will go to hold onto power. They are playing a dangerous game with the state constitution and the redistricting process. Unfortunately, the Senate GOP has made it clear that they care more about protecting their partisan interests than the people of New York State.” 

ALBANY — Senate Republicans likely will propose adding a 63rd seat to the State Senate when they unveil their redistricting plan this month, Majority Leader Dean Skelos said Tuesday.

Democrats decried the proposal as a “despicable” trashing of the state constitution to protect GOP power.

Republicans control the redistricting process in the Senate because of their 32-30 edge in the chamber. New district maps must be in place for 2012 elections, to comply with the 2010 U.S. Census.

For months, GOP officials haven’t denied the possibility that they would propose adding a seat, most likely in the Capital Region or Hudson Valley — primarily Republican areas. Tuesday, Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) confirmed a new seat is highly probable.

“We are preparing maps now and probably within the next few weeks we’ll have something to bring to the public,” Skelos initially said when asked about the status of redistricting. Asked how many districts will be proposed, he said: “There’s a good chance they will go to 63.”

Democrats called the move a “brazen political power grab.”

Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria), head of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, noted that the state constitution contained a formula for sanctioning Senate seats and said the state hadn’t grown rapidly enough to add a new one.

“To ignore and tear up the constitution to protect political power is despicable,” Gianaris said.

The state constitution does provide a complicated formula for determining the maximum number of Senate seats, based on population growth. More than a century ago, the Senate had 50 seats. Republicans, who have controlled the chamber for most of the past five decades, added a 62nd seat in 2002.

Skelos spokesman Scott Reif said that when the GOP unveiled its proposed maps “we will be applying existing law with respect to the size of the Senate.”

A good-government watchdog said the addition of a new seat is another reason why redistricting powers should be stripped from the legislature and handed to an independent commission.

“It is just one more example of how rigged the process of legislative drawn lines is when legislators hold the pen,” said Dick Dadey of Citizens Union, “as they are not only drawing the districts, they’re adding to them.”

(Source: newsday.com)

An independent commission with no ties to the New York State Legislature should draw district lines from which legislators are elected, 52 percent of voters say in a Quinnipiac University poll released today. This is up slightly from 48 percent in an October 26 survey. Another 27 percent support a commission with some legislative input and 11 percent support the current system where state legislators create election districts. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo should veto any legislative districting plan that is not created by an independent commission, voters say 45 - 37 percent in the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh- pe-ack) University poll. 

“Drawing new legislative and congressional district lines will be high on Albany’s 2012 agenda. Quinnipiac University has been tracking this sleeper issue for some time and we see support for an independent commission to draw the lines is edging up,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “By a decisive 56 - 36 percent, New York State voters say keep legislators away from this so-called independent commission.” 

New York State voters are split like a hydro-fracked rock on the issue of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale: 44 percent support drilling because of the economic benefits and 45 percent oppose drilling because of environmental concerns. Opposition to drilling is 48 - 43 percent among upstate voters and 49 - 40 percent among New York City voters while suburban voters support drilling 53 - 34 percent. 

Voters support 57 - 31 percent a tax on companies drilling for gas in the Marcellus Shale and say 75 - 18 percent that drilling will create jobs. All groups agree strongly about jobs. 

But voters say 55 - 13 percent, with 31 percent undecided, that hydro-fracking will cause environmental damage. Again, all groups agree on the risk of damage. 

“Another big 2012 issue - hydro-fracking - has New Yorkers split right down the middle. Overwhelmingly, voters think it would produce jobs. A smaller majority worries that it would damage the environment,” Carroll said. 

New York State voters support 64 - 31 percent Atlantic City or Las Vegas style casinos in the Empire State. Support for casinos is strong among all groups and in all areas of the state. 

There is a gender gap as men support casinos 68 - 28 percent while women say roll the dice 60 - 34 percent. Support ranges from 57 - 37 percent among voters making less than $40,000 per year to 71 - 26 percent among people making $100,000 to $150,000 per year. 

New casinos would be good for the economy, New York State voters say 68 - 27 percent. All groups share this view. Casinos also will lead to an increase in gambling addiction, voters say 58 - 36 percent with similar findings among men and women. 

“Casino gaming requires a constitutional amendment, and the State Legislator must act soon to get the process started. New Yorkers say shuffle and deal,” Carroll said. 

Obama, Schumer, Gillibrand Approval 

New York State voters approve 50 - 45 percent of the job President Barack Obama is doing, a number that hasn’t changed in three months. 

In an early look at the 2012 presidential race, President Obama tops two leading Republican challengers:

53 - 35 percent over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney;

55 - 32 percent over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Gingrich leads the GOP primary pack at 29 percent, followed by Romney at 26 percent.

Voters approve 50 - 23 percent of the job U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is doing, with 27 percent undecided. This is down from her all-time high of 54 - 22 percent in a June 29 Quinnipiac University poll. 

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer gets a 62 - 27 percent approval rating. 

From December 12 - 18, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,143 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones. There are 352 Republicans with a margin of error of +/- 5.2 percent. 

View the poll here.

Senate Republicans were dealt a blow in their fight against a law that requires prisoners be counted as residents of their last known address during the contentious legislative redistricting process.

The ruling — which is sure to be challenged in the case known as Little v. LATFOR — is also a big win for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office. Recall that the Gov. Andrew Cuomo suggested that his successor may not be able to defend the suit, given Schneiderman’s role in shaping the legislation as a state senator.

“Today’s decision by Judge Devine is a victory for fundamental fairness and equal representation,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “The court affirmed the legality of counting incarcerated individuals in their home communities for the purposes of redrawing district lines, rather than the districts where they are in prison. As a lawmaker, I fought to end the practice of prison-based gerrymandering that distorted the democratic process and undermined the principle of ‘one person, one vote.’ This decision affirms and applies a fair standard to the drawing of state legislative districts and makes it easier for counties to do the same by providing them with an accurate data set.”

In a ruling handed down by Supreme Court Judge Eugene Devine and obtained by Capital Tonight, there’s no criticism of the way the 2009 law was passed, which was inserted into a budget bill over Republican objections.

Rather Devine writes that the law follows the one person, one vote rule for redistricting.

From the ruling:

“Though inmates may be physically found in locations of their respective correctional facilities at the time the census is conducted, there is nothing in the record to indicate that such inmates have any actual permancy in these locations or have an intent to remain. In fact it is undisputed that the inmates are transferred at the discretion of DOCCS and plaintiffs have not proffered any evidence that inmates have substantial ties to the communities in which they are involuntarily and temporarily located.

Senate Republicans, who hold a narrow 32-30 majority, stand the most to lose from the law being upheld. Most state and federal prisons are in the upstate region, which is predominantly represented by Republican senators.

The Assembly released a look at what the new population count would mean for Senate districts, with 26 of 30 seats held by Democratis receiving a population gain.

Democrats pushed the measure into the law while they were in the Senate majority in 2010, partially as a means of insurance during the redistricting process.

LATFOR, the lawmaker-led commission charged with redrawing state and federal boundaries, has said it would draw lines based on the new law, though initially members hesitated citing the lawsuit.

The ruling is good news for Senate Democrats, who hope that the shifting district counts will give them a leg-up in the redistricting process next year.

“The time for delay is over,” spokesman Mike Murphy said. “The Senate Republicans and LATFOR must immediately comply with the law. Any further delay is an outrageous and illegal assault on Democracy.”

A new report from Citizens Union should throw a scare into all New Yorkers who still believe in democratic government.

The 114-year-old watchdog group has crunched the numbers and confirmed what your gut was already telling you: The disconnect between Albany lawmakers and the people they supposedly represent has gone from bad to much, much worse.

Because the powers that be have so thoroughly rigged the game for their own advantage, most members of the Legislature routinely return to office every other year after elections that have been reduced to Soviet-style jokes.

Nine out of 10 cruise by comfortable margins of 10 points or more. Almost a third are complete shoo-ins, facing either no major-party contender or no opponent at all.

And the races have gotten dramatically less competitive in recent decades, with the average margin of victory soaring from a ridiculous 33 percentage points to a laughable 51 points last year.

In 1968, just 1% of legislative races were uncontested. Last year, that number had skyrocketed to 19%.

Little wonder that the reelection rate for incumbents was 96% over the last decade — and 100% in 2006.

And little wonder that New York’s election turnout has dropped below 35%, the fourth lowest in the country. Voters know a con when they smell one.

The report traces these sickening trends to the heart of Albany’s incumbency-protection racket: the brazenly partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts.

As in every state, the Legislature is obliged to redraw its district lines every 10 years based on the latest census figures — a process that is unfolding even now behind closed doors at the state Capitol.

This ought to be a chance to recalibrate the Assembly and Senate to more perfectly represent the shifting demographics of the state.

In practice, though, it’s just the opposite, with political bosses manipulating the map-drawing to keep their own parties in power.

The clearest evidence of this skulduggery shows up in the wide population disparities between districts, as the majority parties pack the opposition’s supporters into as few districts as possible while spreading their own voters across as many as possible.

This practice, too, has gotten worse over time, as the New York Public Interest Group recently documented. In 1984, the average deviation between Senate districts was 0.74%. In 2002, it had tripled to 2.24%.

Read more…

ALBANY — Citizens Union, a good-government group, sought to bolster its case for independent redistricting by releasing a report Monday that found incumbents in New York easily keep their seats and competition has decreased under the current system.

Ninety-six percent of incumbents have been re-elected in the 941 state legislative races since 2002, with just 38 losing re-election, the study found. In 1968, 1 percent of races were uncontested, compared to 19 percent in 2010.

The report said the other effects of “partisan gerrymandering” include increasing margins of victory in contested elections, declining voter turnout and a lack of minority representation.

“This report is an attempt to build a very comprehensive case about why New York needs redistricting reform now,” said Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union.

ReShapeNY, a coalition that includes Citizens Union and three-dozen other groups, is calling for an independent commission to draw district lines for the state Legislature and House of Representatives. The coalition wants a special session of the Legislature to adopt a bill before the end of the year, but that appears unlikely.

Redistricting takes place every 10 years, after a new census count.

The Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment has completed public hearings around the state. Task Force Co-chairman John McEneny, D-Albany, said he hopes the panel can reach an agreement on counting prisoners early next month. The next step would be to release draft maps.

A 2010 state law requires counting prisoners in their hometowns rather than where they are incarcerated. The U.S. census still counts them at their correctional facility. The redistricting panel is developing its own figures, but it has run into problems because there are no addresses, or invalid ones, for about 20,000 prisoners.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has promised to veto any district lines that aren’t created through an independent process.

Senate Republicans passed legislation this year for a constitutional amendment that would create a nonpartisan redistricting committee. The bill would have to be approved by voters in two separate sessions of the Legislature, so it would not have taken effect until after the 2020 census.

Read more…

By Costas Panagopoulos

Legislative redistricting has long been marred by backroom deal-making and a lack of public input. By restricting public access, politicians have been able to gerrymander districts to benefit themselves and their party.

Every 10 years, district lines are redrawn to reflect population and demographic changes. In theory, this guarantees that all citizens are fairly and equally represented through their elected officials. However, partisan gerrymandering often slices communities apart and creates districts that fail to ensure effective minority representation. Invariably, this dynamic contributes to partisan gridlock that paralyzes the political and policy making process.

As the state Legislature is in the midst of drawing its own lines, there is real concern about how the new maps will be produced. In past redistricting, both parties have joined to institutionalize partisan control of the Assembly and the Senate by creating fewer competitive races. Partisan control of the redistricting process has resulted in badly contorted districts that neglect communities and preclude competitive elections.

For all kinds of communities to be fairly represented in government, redistricting must be accountable to the communities being represented. The process must be transparent, accountable and open to public engagement.

Now, with the availability of user-friendly, free software, every citizen can have the tools to produce legislative maps. “The 2012 New York Redistricting Project”, a collaborative effort between the Fordham Center of Electoral Politics and Democracy and the Public Mapping Project, seeks to promote these mapping tools, by training the public to use them effectively and become involved in redistricting.

In states like Minnesota and Arizona, mapping software has played a pivotal role in engaging citizens in redistricting. In those states, citizens have actually designed and submitted maps that have, in some cases, provided the basis for the final map approved.

The 2012 New York Redistricting Project, an initiative funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, has partnered with universities across the state to hold workshops that will offer software training and sponsor a statewide student competition that will allow teams of students to design their own fair and equitable maps. The software is easy to use and promotes collaborative work by providing users the ability to share their maps for anyone who visits the site to see.

On Tuesday, we will host a panel discussion and demonstration of the software from 2 to 4 p.m. in Hearing Room A of the Legislative Office Building in Albany. The event is free and open to the public.

Rather than settling for a system that encourages partisan self-interest, our project will empower people to seek a redistricting process that is conducted in the public’s interest. Efforts like ours to get the public involved in redistricting can ultimately be the vehicle that ends gerrymandering. We challenge New Yorkers to get more involved in redistricting in New York this time around.

Costas Panagopoulos, Ph.D., is an associate professor of political science and director of the 2012 New York Redistricting Project at Fordh

(Source: timesunion.com)

The populations of current Senate and Assembly districts are too inconsistent,according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and NYPIRG, and both are hoping to reform this in a bill currently before the Legislature. But another good government group, Common Cause, is warning th

at more flexibility in a district’s population may be needed in order to keep communities of interest intact and “reasonably compact.”

In the Redistricting Reform Act of 2011, the governor recommends a plus or minus 1 percent standard deviation in a given district. And an Oct. 7 report on redistricting released by the New York Public Interest Research Group supports the governor’s recommendation. It calls the plus or minus 1 percent proposed maximum standard deviation “not only desirable, but feasible and doable.”

Legislative district lines are redrawn every ten years, based on U.S. Census data. The last of the 12 public hearings held by the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment (LATFOR), charged with drawing new legislative districts based on population, was held on Oct. 5. Cuomo has said repeatedly that he would veto any new district lines drawn by legislators.

Standard deviation in a Senate or Assembly district’s population shows how many percentage points the population is away from the population average of all the districts. Currently, Senate and Assembly districts in New York can vary as much as plus or minus 5 percent from the average district size.

While Common Cause/NY supports Cuomo’s bill and NYPIRG’s desire to carefully examine the past problems there have been with redistricting and some solutions to remedy them, Common Cause is recommending a plus or minus 3 percent maximum deviation so there is more leeway to keep communities of interest and municipalities intact and ensure relatively compact districts.

“While numerical equivalency is a key component of real redistricting reform, we are concerned that it comply with, not cost, other important good government criteria: maintaining communities of interest, keeping cities, towns, counties, and villages intact whenever possible, and drawing districts that are reasonably compact,” said Susan Lerner, executive director for Common Cause/NY.

Lerner offered Albany County as an example to illustrate a problem with drawing districts using a plus or minus 1 percent standard deviation. The population of Albany County is 304,204, with a standard deviation of minus 2.57 percent. It makes more sense, Lerner said, to keep the county intact as one Senate district and have a greater standard deviation, rather than breaking it up to adhere to the plus or minus 1 percent rule.

Bill Mahoney of NYPIRG said his organization feels there can generally be both numerical equivalency and the presence of the three variables Lerner calls for. “One person, one vote [is] one of the most important principles in democracy,” Mahoney said.

“It’s not like that’s the only way to draw a map around the county” or other municipality. If keeping town lines intact when drawing districts becomes the top priority, people with common interests and beliefs could be split apart, Mahoney said.

Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director for the League of Women Voters of New York State also said the “one person, one vote” philosophy is “what democracy is based on.” The way legislative district lines are drawn, coupled with the lack of campaign finance reforms, has made the incumbency re-election rate in New York between 90 and 100 percent, she said. 

“The legislators get to choose the voters before the voters get to choose them” in a “selection before election” process. This does not create a true representative democracy, Bartoletti said.

Bartoletti often jokes that in New York, incumbent legislators are more likely to die or be indicted than to lose an election for the position they hold, she said. New York’s standard deviation rate of plus or minus 5 percent, is “far too much. Some Senate districts have 30,000 more people in them than other districts,” Bartoletti said.

“[The League of Women Voters of New York State] has always said that the district lines should be drawn by a non-partisan independent committee because … the lines are drawn to protect incumbency, to protect the power of the people already in power.”

The League of Women Voters says what is most important when drawing district lines is, first, keeping with a plus or minus 1 percent deviation and, second, keeping communities of interest intact, Bartoletti said.

The deviation value “will allow for the flexibility you need according to the [federal] Voting Rights Act” while not separating those voters who share similarities such as a common language, profession or socioeconomic status. “Communities of interest can be everything from dairy farmers upstate to language and ethnic minorities downstate.” In addition, the League wants districts to be compact and contiguous, Bartoletti said.

Bartoletti said the non-partisan independent commission that would replace LATFOR if the Redistricting Reform Act of 2011 is passed has been delayed because it goes against the self interest of the Legislature.

When senators and Assembly members were running for re-election in 2010, all of them signed former New York City mayor Ed Koch’s pledge promising to end the gerrymandering of legislative districts to make elections fairer, Bartoletti said.

“After they got into the majority, the Republicans in the Senate said, ‘Oh, we didn’t really need that.’ So they passed a constitutional amendment … to say ‘Oh, look at us. We’re the ultimate reformers. We passed a constitutional amendment that the Legislature won’t be able to repeal.’ Well, the only problem with that was it’s not going into effect until 2022. So it has no impact on the next 10 years going forward.”

With legislators digging in to protect their turf and the governor promising to veto any redistricting plan that is not independent and politically neutral, it would seem as if there was not much for the engaged voter to do except fret.

Now, Fordham University has offered another option. Instead of watching others draw lines to protect incumbents and punish outsiders, New Yorkers can take the process into their own hands.

With tools available at a website, www.redistrictny.org, and support available at a series of workshops throughout the state, the university is taking what has become this most partisan of all processes away from the politicians and turning it over to the people, starting with students.

Fordham is holding a competition for colleges and universities to draw new district lines in a fair, nonpartisan manner. Entries are due Nov. 1, in time to compete with whatever the legislators manage to cobble together.

(Source: recordonline.com)