Posts Tagged ‘Auburn Pub’
There is chatter of a deal in Albany to allow lines drawn by state legislators to stand for the next decade in exchange for a constitutional amendment that would lead to some sort of independent redistricting commission beginning in 2022.
Former New York City mayor Ed Koch, founder of New York Uprising, hopes legislators will reject this deal and keep in mind that most of them signed the New York Uprising pledge in 2010.
Koch sent a letter to all state legislators today. Here is an excerpt from that letter:
It’s less than three weeks before the date when candidates for New York’s congressional districts start collecting signatures for their designating petitions, but what those districts will look like remains unknown.
Instead, New York’s congressional redistricting process is now essentially in the hands of a federal magistrate, who was accepting electronic submissions of proposed congressional maps via a court website through Friday.
The judge today will hold a hearing to gather feedback on the proposals submitted, and she’ll make a recommendation to a three-judge panel by March 12.
In the mess that is the redistricting process for state and congressional boundaries in New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week began implying that he just may back away from his earlier promises to veto legislation that does not go through an independent redistricting commission.
The rationale is the governor may use the threat of a veto this year in order to leverage a deal with the Legislature that achieves meaningful reform in the redistricting process itself before the next time lines are drawn up — in 10 years. If Cuomo does veto lines that are approved by the Legislature, the process this time would largely go into the hands of the court system.
After the release of proposed state legislative district maps Thursday, good government groups were quick to pounce.
In her initial reaction, Common Cause/NY Executive Director Susan Lerner said the maps “appear to continue the long tradition of partisan gerrymandering we’ve come to expect.”
With 2012 underway, one of the major issues to keep an eye on is redistricting. New York’s state legislative districts may look different (there might be a 63rd state Senate district) and the state will lose two congressional districts.
Central New York’s congressional districts could be affected, but Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle, R-Onondaga Hill, and Rep. Richard Hanna, R-Barneveld, said they are happy with the districts they have.
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DEC
Hanna, five other New York reps, hire lobbyists as state prepares for redistricting (Auburn Pub)
New York is losing two congressional seats after redistricting is complete in 2012, and at least six members of the New York congressional delegation are already preparing for the process.
According to an analysis of lobbying in New York prepared by New York Public Interest Research Group, more than $100,000 has been spent in the first 10 months of 2011 on redistricting lobbying efforts by six campaign committees.
Read more: http://auburnpub.com/blogs/eye_on_ny/article_b48ae7e0-2671-11e1-b654-0019bb2963f4.html
The Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment met in New York City Wednesday and Ed Koch used his time testifying at the hearing to push for an independent redistricting commission.
New York will lose two congressional districts once districts are redrawn for the 2012 elections.
While pundits suggest that one downstate district, New York’s 9th Congressional District, will be eliminated (that district used to be represented by Anthony Weiner, who resigned after a Twitter scandal), one upstate district will likely be eliminated.
Tuesday’s Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment (LATFOR) hearing in Syracuse was the first of many throughout the state, including a hearing Wednesday in Rochester.
The co-chairs of LATFOR, State Sen. Michael Nozzolio and Assemblyman Jack McEneny, along with task force members State Sen. Martin Dilan, Assemblyman Bob Oaks and non-legislators Roman Hedges and Welquis Lopez, heard from policy experts, activists and everyday citizens about the issue of redistricting.
Read entire article here: http://auburnpub.com/news/opinion/blogs/eye_on_albany/article_d24777b2-b420-11e0-b8e9-001cc4c002e0.html
