No to Self-serving Gerrymandering, Yes to Independent Redistricting

Look at a map of the 11th Senate District in New York State and you can’t help but notice it contains what appears to be an empty hole.

It’s almost like a puzzle with a missing piece. That intentionally created gap is the community of Bay Terrace, which is currently part of the 16th Senate District.

 Why would a particular community such as Bay Terrace be excluded from a senate district?

The 11th Senate District was originally gerrymandered in a manner designed to protect the seat of at that time Republican State Senator Frank Padavan. Bay Terrace with its many co-ops/condos, large jewish population and scores of registered democrats was not viewed as republican friendly.

This is not meant to be a criticism of Padavan or the republicans who merely followed common practice and did what was politically expedient. Under similar district configurations, democrats do the same exact thing.

 Some voters may be surprised to learn that Fort Totten was included as part of the 11th Senate District by using the high water mark in Little Bay. The story gets even more confusing when we look back ten years ago and find Bay Terrace being represented by Senator George Onorato, a democrat from Astoria.

Onorato was a nice, capable gentleman but invitations for him to visit Bay Terrace always included travel directions. You just can’t make this stuff up.

Unfortunately, as we can all see the current partisan method of setting district lines is entirely self-serving and only benefits our elected officials. They get to choose their voters when it should be the other way around.

Some special interest groups such as the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund are lobbying for district lines that will allow for greater participation based on race, ethnicity and religious belief. On the surface that may seem to be a worthwhile, well-intentioned goal but there is a problem. District lines that serve a specific demographic will end up excluding others. No matter how well packaged, it’s still discriminatory in nature.

The November 18th edition of the New York Times reported on a redistricting lawsuit that has been filed in Brooklyn Federal District Court. I am proud to be one of the six plaintiffs who are requesting of the court that an Independent Master be appointed to oversee the redistricting process.

Richard Mancino, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, said that “the system here in New York is broken,” and that lawmakers were intent on perpetuating the status quo “where the incumbents pick who their voters are going to be.” He said the possibility of primary elections as early as June made it prudent to mount a legal challenge now, instead of waiting until the legislative task force released a draft of district lines.

“If you wait for a flawed product to come out of the current system that will neither be independent nor nonpartisan nor apparently in compliance with the law,” Mancino said adding, “you’re going to be stuck with something that just won’t work.”

I’m pleased that other people have now entered the battle. Bob Friedrich and numerous civic leaders in northern Queens are now working together in an endeavor to make sure district lines are drawn in a manner that do not divide neighborhoods, according to the Queens Chronicle. I commend their efforts and look forward to joining them.

 I urge everyone to get involved and send a loud, clear message to Albany that Voters Choose Their Elected Officials!

In case anyone is wondering, I’m a life-long Democrat who believes that a strong two party system is vital to a democratic form of government.