“We are printing state lines after adjusting them in consultation with the Governor,” Whyland said in a statement. “We are also submitting a proposal for long term reform.
Posts Tagged ‘Politics on the Hudson’
11
MAR
Legislators agree on redistricting for state, but not federal, lines (Politics on the Hudson)
A joint redistricting bill to set new lines for Assembly and Senate seats—but not congressional ones—is being printed today, said Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan.
A new congressional map drawn up by a federal magistrate judge has gotten a big thumbs up from Common Cause New York, a good-government group that has hounded the Legislature for months on redistricting.
In a conference call today, the group detailed what it likes about U.S. Magistrate Roanne Mann’s plan—which is to say, just about everything.
Read More: http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2012/03/06/common-cause-this-map-is-awesome/
ICYMI: The president of the state NAACP chapter wrote a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday, urging him to make good on his original threat to veto any state or congressional lines drawn by the Legislature in the ongoing redistricting process.
Hazel Dukes, who heads the NAACP’s New York State Conference, said she doesn’t agree with some good-government groups who have nudged Cuomo to compromise on new district maps this year in return for the passage of a constitutional amendment that would change the process beginning in 2022. Legislative lines are redrawn every 10 years with updated data from the U.S. Census.
In case you missed it:
A panel of three federal judges ordered a “special master” to interject in the state’s redistricting process for Congressional lines, ordering the Legislature to submit their proposed Congressional districts to U.S. Magistrate Roanne Mann by tomorrow.
Mann, who was officially named special master yesterday, will consider Congressional lines from lawmakers and Common Cause New York as she puts together her own map. This year, New York’s Congressional delegation will be reduced by two, from 29 to 27.
Read More: http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2012/02/28/icymi-special-master-gets-involved-in-redistricting/
The folks at New York Now captured a great video of a very testy exchange between a pair of state senators on opposite sides of ongoing redistricting debate, with Queens Democrat Tony Avella going head to head with Republican Michael Nozzolio during a public hearing yesterday.
Shortly after the clip starts, Avella grows frustrated with Nozzolio and asks for his undivided attention. Nozzolio—a Fayette, Seneca County, Republican who co-chairs the Legislature’s redistricting task force—was conversing with an aide.
Read More: http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2012/02/08/nozzolio-avella-trade-barbs-at-redistricting-hearing/
19
DEC
Maps from good-government groups urge major changes to districts (Politics on the Hudson Political)
Frustrated with decades of protecting incumbents through redistricting, a good-government group released its own statewide maps today, which it says would provide proper representation without regard to political majorities or where a current lawmaker lives.
On the congressional side, Common Cause New York’s map eliminates one district in western New York and another in New York City, though it’s difficult to pin down exactly which districts were cut because of the significant changes the maps make. New York’s congressional delegation will be reduced from 29 to 27 in the 2012 elections, in accordance with the latest Census figures.
A state law that requires prisoners to be counted in their hometowns when New York draws up new legislative district lines is having an unintended consequence: about one third of the state’s prisoners may not be counted.
Assemblyman Jack McEneny, D-Albany, said today that there’s no known last address for about 20,000 prisoners in New York. Either they were homeless, lived out of state or their addresses were incomplete and can’t be mapped to be included in the population count for new district lines, he said.
Read More: http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2011/11/18/about-20000-prisoners-may-go-uncounted-in-redistricting/
Senate Republicans, the state Attorney General’s office and civil rights groups were all in Albany County Supreme Court to make their case in a GOP-led lawsuit over where prisoners should be counted when state and congressional district lines are drawn.
Oral arguments were held before Judge Eugene Devine this morning, with the attorney for the six Senate Republicans involved involved in the suit arguing that a law requiring prisoners to be counted at their last-known address rather than where they are incarcerated is unconstitutional.
Read More: http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2011/10/04/court-hears-arguments-on-prison-redistricting-battle/
20
SEP
More from Q Poll: NY voters want Cuomo to force independent redistricting (Politics on the Hudson)
While today’s Quinnipiac University poll found Gov. Andrew Cuomo with a record-high approval rating, it did show New Yorkers want him to play a bigger role in trying to force lawmakers to relinquish their role in the redistricting process.
The survey found 70 percent of registered voters in New York want to see Cuomo “speak out more forcefully” in favor of an independent panel to redraw district lines.
Senate Democrats are touting the results of a Quinnipiac University poll today that showed 50 percent of New Yorkers want an independent commission to draw legislative district lines next year.
Previous polls have shown a larger majority of New Yorkers wanting an independent panel, but today’s poll asked among three choices: 50 percent said the lines should be drawn by an independent panel, 26 percent the Legislature should have some input and 13 percent said the Legislature should continue to draw the lines.
As the state task force that will draw new legislative district lines held a public hearing in Albany today, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was asked if there were any circumstances under which he would approve the panel’s final product. The short answer: Still no.
Read More: http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2011/08/04/cuomo-reiterates-promise-to-veto-partisan-redistricting/
3
AUG
Silver, McEneny call on task force to follow prison law for redistricting (Politics on the Hudson)
With a panel charged with developing a redistricting plan in time for the 2012 election set to host a hearing in Albany tomorrow, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the Democratic co-chair of the task force called on other members of the group to comply with a law passed last year related to whether prisoners should be counted in their hometown or the jail they reside in.
Silver and Albany-area Assemblyman John McEneny, the co-chair, said observing the law is “not only the prudent thing to do, it is also the right thing to do.”
A week after the Senate Republicans’ designee on the state’s redistricting task force said the time for an independent process has passed, Senate Minority Leader John Sampson wrote an open letter urging the GOP to reconsider.
Sampson, a Democrat from Brooklyn, wrote to Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos on Sunday, urging him to reconvene the Senate to take up a bill to establish an independent effort.
Read entire article at the link below:
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2011/07/18/sampson-to-skelos-ny-needs-independent-redistricting/
