Opponents argue Nassau redistricting plan

Opponents of the Nassau County Legislature's redistricting plan tried to show a federal court judge Thursday that the Republican-led body was unresponsive to residents' concerns when it carved new legislative lines last month.

The opponents want a federal judge to reinstate a preliminary injunction blocking use of the new legislative lines. It was imposed by a Democratic state judge, but a more senior Republican judge later placed it on hold.

The opponents' key evidence was a video of the May 9 public hearing on the issue, which they say shows legislative indifference.

"The court must look at how the plan was adopted -- with a lack of response to expressed concerns, with different rules being applied at the hearing between whites and blacks, and with the latter being threatened with arrest," Randolph McLaughlin, a lawyer for the minority petitioners, said after the hearing, which continues Monday morning.

But Paul DerOhannesian, the Albany elections lawyer working with GOP counsel Peter Bee of Garden City, disagreed.

His questioning led petitioner Dennis Jones of Hempstead to concede on cross examination that a heavily black area of the village being placed in a predominantly white legislative district -- one of Jones' concerns May 9 -- had been reversed later, as had placement of affluent Old Westbury into District 2, where minorities make up a majority of the population.

"You were heard," the Albany lawyer said.

DerOhannesian had begun his cross-examination of Andrew Beveridge, the Queens College professor who is the demographics expert for the four black petitioners, when District Court Judge Joanna Seybert adjourned the hearing at 1 p.m.

Beveridge, who testified Tuesday, has offered an alternative redistricting plan that he said is far better than the one adopted May 24 by the 11-8 GOP-dominated legislature. The legislature's plan, he said, "dilutes the minority vote."

But presiding officer and plan sponsor Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa) argues that it could lead to minorities gaining a third seat on the legislature. And he says his proposal reduces the population of District 2, which has grown too large, and distributes the number of voters more evenly among districts.