Posts Tagged ‘Times Union’
Two good-government groups gave their blessing to a proposed constitutional amendment Monday, offering cover to legislators who promised to change New York’s redistricting system and an air of legitimacy to Gov. Andrew Cuomo as he moves away from an earlier threat to veto work that arose from the current system.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Support-for-new-district-maps-built-on-promise-3401069.php
In a teleconference Thursday morning, former NYC Mayor Ed Koch reiterated his charge to those who have stood with him in the fight for independent redistricting: Don’t give up on the prospect of a gubernatorial veto of LATFOR’s lines, and it’s not too late for a better process.
He said “the moment of truth” had arrived for all concerned.
Koch said a commission, perhaps helmed by Judith Kaye (once again deployed as a brand unto herself, the Apple Computer of integrity), could whip together a better plan within three days.
Read More: http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/119633/koch-its-the-moment-of-truth-on-redistricting/
Sen. Liz Krueger, a member of the Democratic conference’s grownups caucus, just released a statement raining derision on the near-term matter of the revised legislative maps from LATFOR and the more long-term issue of the proposed constitutional fix as laid out in Friday’s TU.
Here’s her statement:
Read More: http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/118590/krueger-redistricting-fix-too-weak-to-work/
A possible constitutional change to New York’s redistricting process would create a 10-member independent panel to draw the state’s political lines beginning in 2021, but would allow the Legislature to make final tweaks to the plan if the Assembly and Senate fail to pass it after two tries.
The details of the three-way negotiations between the Assembly, Senate and Gov. Andrew Cuomo were laid out by Assemblyman Jack McEneny, D-Albany, at a Wednesday evening meeting of the chamber’s Democratic conference.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Epic-redistrict-deal-in-works-3375256.php
Our opinion: A court decision to take over congressional redistricting in New York should inspire the Legislature to fix the process, now and for the future.
There may not be enough bad words in a thesaurus to fully describe the state Legislature’s handling of redistricting. But a court decision on Monday to take over the drafting of congressional lines in New York speaks volumes about how badly this state’s self-interested lawmakers have failed (see: completely, utterly, dismally).
How self-interested are they? How about Assembly Democrats holding a fundraiser in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night, just as they’re supposed to be drawing state congressional maps? What better time to get representatives — and who knows, maybe some of their lobbyist and special-interest pals — to pony up $500 to $1,000 than when Congressional careers are on the line (see: shakedown, squeeze, quid pro quo).
Read More: http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/a-farce-by-any-other-name/18255/
A panel of state legislators has dithered for 11 months, so a federal magistrate will draw lines for 27 congressional districts in two weeks.
A three-judge panel named U.S. Magistrate Roanne Mann as special master over New York’s once-a-decade redistricting process during a hearing Monday afternoon. When attorneys representing Democrats who dominate the Assembly and Republicans who hold a bare majority in the Senate acknowledged they had no agreement through a joint task force, called LATFOR, that is tasked with drawing the congressional lines, Mann ordered they develop their own proposals by Wednesday.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Judge-takes-over-redistricting-3364883.php
A panel of state legislators has dithered for 11 months, so a federal magistrate will draw lines for 27 congressional districts in two weeks.
A three-judge panel named U.S. Magistrate Roanne Mann as special master over New York’s once-a-decade redistricting process during a hearing Monday afternoon. When attorneys representing Democrats who dominate the Assembly and Republicans who hold a bare majority in the Senate acknowledged they had no agreement through a joint task force, called LATFOR, that is tasked with drawing the congressional lines, Mann ordered they develop their own proposals by Wednesday.
Read More: http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/117651/federal-judge-seizes-congressional-redistricting/
Several members of New York’s congressional delegation spent over $160,000 lobbying state officials related to the redistricting process, a Times Union analysis has found.
Rebecca Melnitsky, our awesome intern, combed through campaign contributions and lobbying filings to see just which members of New York’s delegation have been shelling out for protection as the boundaries of new districts, the number of which will drop from 29 to 27, are settled.
I’m heading down to a federal court hearing in Brooklyn where a magistrate will decide whether and how the judiciary should become involved in New York’s redistricting process.
Per an order issued last week, Magistrate Roanne Mann has requested all the parties in this case — the voters who brought suit, led by Mark Favors, state legislative leaders who control redistricting task force LATFOR and Gov Andrew Cuomo — name experts who could potentially become the special master(s) who get the redistricting pen.
Here are some of the names they’ve floated, per letters filed in the court docket.
Read More: http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/117573/name-your-redistricting-experts/
Observing legislative redistricting in New York this year is a little like watching a performance of Hamlet in modern dress. You’ve seen Shakespeare’s tragedy before, more than once. It looks different this time, but the plot’s the same. You know for sure that it’s not going to come out well.
LATFOR, the Legislature-controlled body in charge of redistricting, is in the midst of giving us the same bipartisan gerrymander of legislative districts that we’ve gotten for the last thirty years. Majority Democrats design Assembly Districts. Majority Republicans do the Senate. Each signs off on the other. Partisan majorities and their incumbent members are protected for the next decade.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Encore-for-N-Y-s-redistricting-farce-3362816.php
The redistricting plans for the state Legislature designed by its own leaders set a new low in the sordid history of gerrymandering in New York.
Cobbled together behind closed doors in total secrecy, the district lines would fragment neighborhoods and sprawl across counties and cities, in disregard of local concerns and communities. To entrench themselves in office, the majority party in each chamber created these districts to avoid competition and force incumbents of the minority party to run against each other.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Give-voters-a-voice-in-redistricting-3357371.php
