National Dems make a grab for one of LI's GOP congressional seats

Daily Point

NY and LI redistricting enter the U.S. spotlight

Sean Patrick Maloney, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who also is an upstate member of the New York delegation, drew a lion’s share of attention on the redistricting front Thursday by circulating a wished-for plan that could reduce the number of "safe" Republican seats statewide to only three from a current eight.

With New York losing a seat due to population shifts, Maloney presents the hypothetical possibility of a 23-3 Democratic edge in the delegation rather than the current 19-8. Some excited Democrats even speculated about a 24-2 edge in New York going into November’s crucial House midterms.

On Long Island, the plan is advertised as protecting the GOP incumbency of Bayport Republican Andrew Garbarino. Maloney’s DCCC lines would be drawn in such a way as to contain the Island’s Republican strength within the 1st Congressional District, to which Garbarino could jump from his current CD2, according to Twitter postings by David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report.

CD1 is the current domain of Republican Lee Zeldin of Shirley, who’s vacating the seat to run for governor. Other Democratic proposals, such as the plan put forward within the now-derailed Independent Redistricting Commission, also reshape the border between CD1 and CD2, so some modification there has been expected all along. The partisan presumption is that Democrats would be able to win the newly drawn CD2 and hold on to CD3 and CD4 as well.

The other Republicans supposedly not targeted for possible electoral elimination by the Democratic supermajority in the State Legislature are far from Long island — Elise Stefanik, now a national GOP figure, and Chris Jacobs.

Maloney’s manipulation could render unsafe for reelection incumbent Staten Islander Nicole Malliotakis — and Claudia Tenney and John Katko (who is not running for reelection) would have their current residences pushed into the same district, combining Syracuse, Ithaca and Utica. GOP incumbent Tom Reed from Corning is also not seeking another term.

Malliotakis issued a statement Thursday deploring the DCCC plan, by which her district would reach across water into lower Manhattan: "To entertain a map drawn by Nancy Pelosi's chief campaign operative and head of a DC organization focused on only electing Democrats to Congress is highly inappropriate, defies the will of New York's voters and is a direct assault on the state constitution.

"They know they can't win on policy, merit, or debate so this is a desperate attempt to tilt the scale to give Democrats an advantage."

Nothing is final yet. Furthermore, Albany insiders said with assurance on Thursday that the legislative proposal due out by the weekend and due to be submitted for Assembly and Senate approval next week, is significantly different from Maloney’s congressional plan for New York.

That includes all the congressional "hot spots": namely Suffolk, Staten Island, and Western New York, where the lines "do not resemble" what Maloney is pushing for, a state source said.

One thing the coming disclosure of the Senate-Assembly plan for congressional seats may show is just how committed Albany Democrats may be to the electoral goals of the national party — at a time when Republican line-drawing in other states is scrutinized for fairness.

That’s where party politics and impartial governance could start to chafe.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

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Data Point

Long Island's pot opt-outs

Long Island does seem to have a predilection for opt out.

Now that we’re past the Dec. 31 deadline for jurisdictions to pass a local law stating they will not permit marijuana retail and commercial consumption sites, it’s clear that lots of the region’s cities, towns and villages leapt at the chance.

A new list of filings from the state Office of Cannabis Management shows a high rate of opt-out in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Analysis of the database and calls to local supervisors and mayors shows that both the cities of Glen Cove and Long Beach opted out, as well as Nassau County’s three towns: Hempstead, North Hempstead, Oyster Bay. In Suffolk, East Hampton, Huntington, Islip, Shelter Island, Smithtown and Southold passed on pot.

Southold and Long Beach were not included in the database, despite opting out in December not long before the deadline. OCM spokesman Freeman Klopott told The Point that the office’s list is a "living document" based on what is filed with the office.

OCM’s list of opt-out villages is not fully complete, either — Kensington, Baxter Estates, and Cove Neck are just some of the missing jurisdictions among the Island’s crowded patchwork, but even the incomplete filing shows more than 45 Long Island villages opting out.

A more comprehensive database is available from the Rockefeller Institute of Government, drawing from media clips and other sources, showing the vast number of Long Island villages that have said no. And we mapped Long Island’s town and city opt-outs here.

There is a lot up in the air, and caveats abound, even after the Dec. 31 deadline put in place by the state’s landmark Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act of 2021. First, places can’t "opt out" from legalizing possession. And jurisdictions that decided to opt out on the sales side can decide to flip and "opt in."

Those that are "in" can still pass zoning restrictions on cannabis, which the town of Brookhaven did last year. And villages can opt out even if the larger town doesn’t — as happened in Patchogue, despite Brookhaven’s yes.

And we’re not quite ready for Amsterdam on the Peconic. The next step toward being able to buy or consume weed at your local shop is the release of regulations from the state cannabis office — which is expected sometime this winter or early spring, Klopott said.

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

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