Editorial: Get mad about redistricting
"The Steam Shovel": That's what some in political circles are calling the redrawn 20th State Senate District in Brooklyn, a example of the odd shapes that electoral districts can take. Credit: New York State Legislature
Finally, Long Islanders get the chance to express their outrage at the deeply flawed redistricting process in the State of New York, and at the cynical, gerrymandered product that process has again produced. A hearing, the sixth of nine scheduled statewide by the legislative committee that drew the controversial maps, will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. in the auditorium of the Suffolk County Legislature in Hauppauge.
During the campaigns for the 2010 Assembly and Senate elections, pledges abounded as politicians promised a fair process to reflect the upcoming census data, one that wouldn't protect incumbents or parties, or disenfranchise voters. Post-election, the promises became protests that drawing lines the right way can't be done this year -- which means it won't be done this decade.
Unless the public gets angry, and vocal, setting political boundaries will never be done right. The maps the legislative task force released two weeks ago represent the same gerrymandered protectionism as always, all across the state. Today the focus will be on Long Island, where there is plenty to question.
The Republican Senate majority drew the lines here pretty much where they've been for 40 years, ignoring the tremendous growth of black and Hispanic populations in some communities. In western Suffolk County, the power of minority voters has been diluted in Wyandanch, Babylon and Islip. Boundaries could easily have been drawn that bound minority voters in these communities into one district; instead, they've been split into three.
In Nassau, the same has been done to Roosevelt, Uniondale and Hempstead. Again, communities that would benefit from common representation would be sliced into three districts.
Assembly Democrats don't fear losing their majority, as the Senate Republicans do, but still drew districts like Rorschach blots to protect their incumbents and try to pick up a few more seats along the Nassau-Suffolk border. Huntington has been diced, and several boundaries have been drawn as Sound-to-Bay segments, creating districts that have no rhyme or reason beyond assuring the right winners.
This is allowed to go on because political boundaries don't arouse the public much. Until that changes, the system won't change either.
Many of our representatives in Albany, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, ran promising to fix the system. The legislators are reneging, but haven't yet voted on the maps. It's possible they could be convinced to oppose these lines if they feared constituent anger enough.
Beyond that, Cuomo can veto the maps. The first time he did, they would be sent back to the legislature. If not much changes, another veto would send the maps to the courts, and the judicial branch would right any lines so egregious they violate federal voter protections. While giving a nod to some prerogatives of the legislature, it could also consider maps created by good-government groups like Common Cause.
That we may get bad lines doesn't excuse everyone involved from doing their best to prevent it. The voters can raise their voices. The legislators can buck their leadership and vote against the gerrymandered maps. And Cuomo can issue his vetoes. He promised to, and should follow through, using his bully pulpit to record his outrage.
