Plan would add extra Assembly seat on LI

ALBANY -- Long Island would pick up an extra state Assembly seat -- at upstate New York's expense -- under a proposed state redistricting plan unveiled by lawmakers Thursday.

The plan would effectively bolster Suffolk County's representation by shifting existing Island seats eastward and creating an open seat in Nassau County, covering Elmont, Lynbrook and Valley Stream.

The Island's nine Senate districts would remain intact, with some tinkering to change a Babylon-based seat to more Islip-based. That seat is currently held by Sen. Owen Johnson (R-West Babylon), 82, who last week said he's running for re-election despite rumors to the contrary.

Statewide, Senate Republicans proposed more politically friendly maps aimed at protecting their narrow majority. Among their proposals, they would force six Democratic incumbents into three districts in Queens and Brooklyn.

They touted the changes as creating a first-ever Asian-based district in Queens.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has said he'd veto partisan drawn maps and, late Thursday, an aide released a statement bolstering that threat.

"At first glance, these lines are simply unacceptable and would be vetoed by the governor," said Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto.

Earlier in the day, Cuomo, before the maps were published, predicted the issue would "wind up in the courts anyway" because of lawsuits, either by politicians or watchdog groups.

Lawmakers must redraw legislative districts every 10 years to reflect new U.S. Census data; New York is one of the last states to roll out proposed maps, which eventually must be approved by courts to protect federal voting rights. Often, the first set of draft maps isn't the one finally approved.

Always contentious, the outcome determines not only who represents individual towns, villages and neighborhoods, but also who can influence the balance of power in the state Legislature -- especially the Senate, where Republicans hold a 32-29 advantage, with one vacancy. Government watchdogs have long complained that the parties in power -- Republicans in the Senate, Democrats in the Assembly -- gerrymander districts to protect their majorities.

Assembly Republicans said Democrats did just that to create the additional Island seat.

"If you look in a picture in the dictionary under gerrymander," said Assemb. Andrew Raia (R-East Northport), "my district is quite clearly there."

The Island would have one additional Assembly seat under the new proposal, giving it 22. Several Island seats would move considerably eastward.

This would give Suffolk 11 seats (up from 10) and Nassau 10, with one seat split between the counties.

The districts of Raia and Assemb. Joseph Saladino (R-Massapequa) would be greatly altered. Raia's, currently North Shore-based, would stretch from the Long Island Sound to the Atlantic Ocean. Saladino's similarly would go from Sound to ocean, instead of being South Shore-based. Saladino's district, once wholly in Nassau, would now be primarily in Suffolk.

Huntington, currently divided into two Assembly districts, would be cut into three.

"Whereas you've never had a district run from the Sound to the ocean, you now have two districts that run from the Sound to the ocean," Raia said.

Assemb. John McEneny (D-Albany), the Democrats' point man on redistricting, said the new maps were fairer than existing districts. Senate Republicans said their plan was "fair, legal and protects minority voting interests."

But critics noted that Republican-controlled districts on the Island weren't treated similarly as Democrat-based seats in Queens to create a minority seat.

"The Senate saw fit to . . . create new minority-based districts in Queens," said Dick Dadey of Citizens Union, "but then did not apply the same standard on Long Island and preserved all nine incumbents."

Here are some statewide highlights of the proposed new Assembly and Senate districts:

Senate

An additional Senate district would be created, bringing the total to 63 seats. The district would cover suburbs and rural communities south and west of Albany -- an area apparently tailored for a Republican assemblyman from Schenectady.

Six Democratic senators would be forced into three primaries in Queens and Brooklyn. This would create three open seats, including the first district drawn to promote Asian candidates in Queens.

The district of a Republican senator who scored a huge upset in a heavily Democratic Buffalo district in 2010 and who is considered highly vulnerable would become much more suburban -- and more Republican.

Assembly

Two Assembly districts on Long Island would be significantly altered.

The North Shore Suffolk district of Assemb. Andrew Raia (R-East Northport) -- now the 9th -- would be reoriented north-south, becoming the new 12th District and running in a thin line from the Atlantic Ocean to Long Island Sound.

Similarly, the current 12th District of Assemb. Joseph Saladino (R-Massapequa), now on Nassau's South Shore, would become the new 9th District, also running from ocean to Sound, but shifting to be primarily in Suffolk.