Election district lines drawn by the majority parties — Republicans in the Senate and Democrats in the Assembly — are expected to be voted on today, Tuesday or Wednesday.
Posts Tagged ‘Poughkeepsie Journal’
The latest hope of overhauling New York politics by creating more competitive elections rests with closed-door horse trading this week by the Legislature’s powerful leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Dutchess County Democrats are urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reject a plan by the state Legislature to redraw boundaries in two state Assembly districts in the county.
In a letter to the governor, county Democratic Chairwoman Elisa Sumner said she and others in the party object to the plan submitted by a legislative task force because it puts the county’s two cities, Beacon and Poughkeepsie, in the 104th Distrjct that would include parts of Ulster and Orange counties.
Many Dutchess County voters would see changes in who represents them in Albany under a proposal for new state legislative districts.
Dutchess County is represented by two senators and five members of the Assembly. Under the redistricting plans a state task force released Thursday, one senator would represent all but two towns in the county and two Assembly seats would cover most of the county. Two other Assembly seats would represent the cities of Beacon and Poughkeepsie and the towns of Red Hook and Rhinebeck, respectively.
Wow!
It was simply hard to conceive how the state’s rotten, anti-democratic effort at redrawing political lines could get any worse.
But it has. Much worse. And it could cost taxpayers greatly. This madness has to stop.
The latest brilliant plan, as envisioned by Senate Republicans and released by a task force that is supposed to devise political lines that are fair and impartial, would actually add one more seat to the Senate.
ALBANY — Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said today there’s a “good chance” the Legislature’s upper house will be expanding, with a redistricting committee seriously considering the creation of a 63rd seat.
Skelos said the legislative task force will likely recommend adding a new Senate district when it releases newly drawn maps for 2012 elections, which lawmakers said could come as soon as next week.
“We’re still in the process of doing that, but there’s a good chance that they’ll go to 63,” the Nassau County Republican told reporters in the Capitol.
Read More: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20120103/NEWS12/120103024/Skelos-Good-chance-Senate-will-expand
As conveyed by their point man on the topic, the state Senate Republicans’ view on why an independent redistricting process can’t go forward in New York would be laughable if the issue weren’t so serious.
Sen. Michael Nozzolio of Fayette, Seneca County, says there simply isn’t enough time to do it that way, to set up an independent panel to get the job done right.
Wrong.
