Independent redistricting in Nassau?
Hempstead hosts a rally in opposition to the GOP redistricting plan for the Nassau County Legislature. Credit: Newsday/Danielle Finkelstein
Will demands for independent redistricting soon crop up in Nassau County?
Such calls are in play elsewhere. In Albany, the process to redraw congressional and state legislative seats for next Election Day remains in the hands of a commission controlled by leaders of the Assembly and Senate majorities.
But advocates of nonpartisan redistricting keep expressing hope for some 11th-hour, nonpartisan step to curb self-serving gerrymandering, with an eye toward Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who's on record for reform. A federal lawsuit on the subject was recently filed by the firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, its impact still unclear.
Suffolk already enacted a reform plan for its legislative seats. Boundaries for the 2013 election are to be drawn for the first time by a nonpartisan reapportionment commission, which -- after several practical bumps and complications -- remains a work in progress.
Life remains different in Nassau. Republicans, likely to stay in charge for the next two years, plan to enact the map they worked out in the spring but were stopped in court from using in last month's election. The lines might be tweaked as a commission is formed and hearings carried out as guided by the charter, GOP sources suggest.
Unlike Albany and Hauppauge, however, Mineola has heard little if any agitation to remove redistricting for the first time from the direct reach of the lawmakers -- whose incumbencies can depend on the outcome.
That may not last. Asked Friday, state and county Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs said "we absolutely favor" independent redistricting, but declined to elaborate.
Late last week it became clear from the election canvassing that the GOP is likely to retain the legislative majority, by a 10-9 margin. Strategically, the Democrats would seem to risk little if they raise the issue.
FATHERS AND SONS: Speaking before the Long Island Association last week, state Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky introduced his special assistant, Anthony Albanese, who hails from Manhasset, and his father, Vincent Albanese, described by Lawsky as "a wonderful gentleman and longtime confidante to a guy whose name you may know, Mario Cuomo." Lawsky also introduced George Haggerty, founder of a Jericho real estate law firm who recently accepted appointment to head the Financial Services Department's real-estate finance division. He's a longtime friend of the current Gov. Cuomo.
