Redistricting: eject proposed plans
@dropcap-firstgraf-3lines (Edit:The legislative districts proposed by a task force of state lawmakers put partisan politics above the interests of north country residents to protect incumbents and party dominance in the Legislature.
The Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Redevelopment carved up Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties and put portions of them in five Assembly districts and three Senate districts. Where two senators and two members of the Assembly now represent the tri-county region, its unifying, common interests will be fractured and parceled out among eight lawmakers under the maps released last week.
Redistricting is done every 10 years to adapt legislative districts to the 2010 Census. Districts were drawn to protect incumbents and the majority control Republicans and Democrats have in the Senate and Assembly, respectively. The two parties oversee the drawing of district lines for their respective chambers. Assembly Democrats used their power over the process to put two upstate Republican members in the same district, forcing them to run against each other in a primary to ensure at least one of them won’t be back. Senate Republicans did the same to downstate Democrats.
But the disruption in representation is particularly noticeable in St. Lawrence County, currently with two Assembly members. It has a population large enough to be a single Assembly district, but it has been parceled out to four districts that stretch east to Plattsburgh and south to Fulton and northern Oneida counties. One section of the county is included in a district represented now by Assemblyman Marc Butler of Newport, who lives about 170 miles from the northernmost point of the proposed 118th Assembly District.
A similar scenario played out in the Senate. Instead of two senators, St. Lawrence County will be divided among three. In one, the town of Clare in the center of the county would be joined with Washington and Warren counties closer to the capital region.
This will make it very hard for St. Lawrence County to defend the low-cost power allocation it receives from the Moses-Saunders Power Dam that has kept numerous St. Lawrence County people working for generations.
Splitting the county weakens the voting power of its residents who could see their voices drowned out by more populous parts of far-flung, diverse districts with potentially competing interests. It will be more difficult for lawmakers to maintain the contact, closeness and awareness of constituent needs they have now with their proximity to those they represent.
The redistricting process is just beginning with public hearings next. Without improvements, it will be up to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to veto this plan.
