Redistricting task force makes an LI stop
So far, an unusually large share of the state's redistricting process has been devoted to discussing the state's redistricting process.
Reasons for this unusual meta-method are clear.
Last year, now-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, among others, called for an independent commission to redraw congressional and state legislative lines. Most lawmakers, then up for election, agreed. Cuomo vowed to veto any plan done the old way -- by a task force controlled by legislative leaders of both major parties.
But when the GOP won back the State Senate majority, its leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), reversed course and "discovered" a constitutional rationale to put off any change in the process for another 10 years.
So the road map to next year's new map remains elusive. Barring a sudden legal change from Albany, the traditional system will prevail.
Sen. Mike Nozzolio (R-Seneca Falls), representing the Skelos position on the panel, occupies the hot seat. As the politics have worked out so far, Nozzolio's counterpart, Assemb. John McEneny (D-Albany), an appointee of Speaker Sheldon Silver, seems to have it relatively easy.
On Wednesday, this bipartisan panel called LATFOR, short for Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, convened in Farmingdale for the latest in its series of hearings -- and once again heard calls to stand down.
Nancy Marr of Suffolk's nonpartisan League of Women Voters testified: "The public wants an independent commission, not LATFOR, to draw boundaries according to fair and objective criteria while allowing public input into the process."
Marr alluded briefly in her testimony to how the new nonpartisan panel set up for Suffolk's legislative redistricting is proceeding. Nozzolio questioned her about how "independent" a redistricting commission could be.
When David Stonehill, a Merrick attorney, challenged the legality of the Senate's expansion from 61 to 62 seats the last time out, Nozzolio pressed him to explain the basis of the claim. Stonehill admitted he wasn't prepared to spell that out right away but vowed to "submit more analysis" at another hearing on Oct. 27 in Nassau.
Suffolk Legis. Rick Montano (D-Central Islip) proudly noted during his testimony that he'd run unopposed in a mostly Latino and African-American district. A cordial debate followed when Nozzolio noted that good-government groups such as Marr's complain that there is too little competition for seats.
The hearing did yield several specific pleas regarding the political map itself. Several speakers raised substantive concerns that certain central Suffolk legislative borders now cut abruptly through school districts, geographic entities and ethnic and racial communities.
But the event had its partisan edges. Terry Gipson arrived all the way from Rhinebeck and testified that "LATFOR is politics at its most political." Gipson, a Democrat, already is campaigning to challenge Sen. Steve Saland (R-Poughkeepsie) next year.
Also testifying was Regina Calcaterra of New Suffolk, a Democrat who said afterward that she has not decided if she'll run next year for the seat of Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson). She echoed calls for an independent commission and opposed expanding the number of senators. She also discussed the large population growth of the 1st Senate District and the likelihood that 20,000 of its residents will be mapped into another district.
In the spirit of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests, someone might have thought to beat a drum and chant, "This is what demography looks like."
