Voting rights advocates decry Steve Bellone veto of redistricting plan

Some voting rights advocates said Thursday they felt "betrayed" by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone's veto of a Democrat-sponsored redistricting plan, and expressed concern his move could lead to disenfranchisement of minority voters.

Advocates said the Democratic plan, which until the veto was set to go into effect Monday, would have created fair and equitable boundaries for the Suffolk County Legislature's 18 districts.

But under an agreement between Bellone, a Democrat, and legislative Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst), a commission would convene to propose new district maps.

The panel would have four Republican and four Democratic appointees.

If it were to deadlock, Republicans would control the redistricting process.

Advocates said Thursday they were organizing a telephone and letter-writing campaign to tell Bellone of their displeasure with his decision.

Dan Lloyd, president of the nonprofit advocacy group Minority Millennials, said with the veto "we lost an opportunity to have one of the most segregated regions in America truly reflect diversity for the next 10 years."

Lloyd, 35, of North Amityville, told Newsday, "I think County Executive Bellone really missed a historic moment to transform the landscape of Suffolk County."

Bellone said in a statement Thursday: "I took this action because it was the best path to establishing a transparent process that produces equitable maps and guarantees a minimum of four majority-minority districts."

But Tracey Edwards, regional director for the Long Island NAACP, criticized Bellone's approach.

Edwards told Newsday the Democratic maps were based on election districts, and kept together communities where residents may have similar needs and concerns.

Bellone’s plan would "just find the minorities and group them together as one in order to achieve his goal," Edwards said.

"He has made this squarely about using race as a means to an end," Edwards said.

The Democratic redistricting plan passed Dec. 31, hours before the GOP took control of the legislature.

The measure would have had equal numbers of districts that leaned Republican or Democratic.

It also would have squeezed four Republican incumbents into two districts without making any Democrats run against each other.

In issuing his veto Wednesday night, Bellone said the Democratic plan "would never have survived" legal challenge because it violated the county charter.

Republicans and Suffolk County Attorney Dennis Cohen, a Bellone appointee, argued the legislature lacked the authority to approve district maps before the Feb. 1 deadline for the commission to act.

Their deal would extend the deadline for the commission to produce district lines from Feb. 1 to Aug. 1, and require the panel to hold 12 public hearings on proposed maps.

The Democratic plan passed after one public hearing.

Any map approved by the legislature would have to have at least four districts in which Black, Latino and other minority residents are in the majority, as the Democratic plan did.

"I can tell you that this bipartisan commission is going to be directed to make sure that they do better" than the Democratic plan, McCaffrey said.

McCaffrey also said Thursday he would drop a lawsuit against the Democratic plan because Bellone’s veto had made it unnecessary.

Willie Perez, a member of the Huntington Town Hispanic Advisory Task Force, backed Bellone's veto and said he hoped the bipartisan commission would result "in a more transparent process, in which all voters feel able to understand how redistricting affects them."

Legis. Jason Richberg (D-West Babylon), minority leader of the county legislature, said Democrats were considering their next steps.

Richberg said caucus members and had "a lot of intense feelings" after the veto from a fellow Democrat.

Richberg and some voting rights advocates said it was unclear why Bellone joined with Republicans before courts could rule on the GOP's lawsuit.

"When you see the coalition of support that was built around this, particularly from communities of color, why he would turn his back on them, I can't understand," Shoshana Hershkowitz, founder of Suffolk Progressives, an advocacy group.

"This is a real betrayal," said Hershkowitz, who had organized a campaign calling on Bellone to sign the redistricting plan.

By Rachelle Blidner

rachelle.blidner@newsday.com@rachelleblidner

Rachelle Blidner covers Suffolk County government, politics and breaking news.