Unfinished politics

Disgraced Congressmember Anthony Weiner has resigned and it is official – the seat representing Congressional District 9 that runs from Queens into Brooklyn is vacant.
Governor Andrew Cuomo – who is a proponent of reform through nonpartisan redistricting – took this opportunity and scheduled Special Elections for that vacancy and the six Assembly vacancies in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan and upstate New York.
In Special Elections, the Democratic Party bosses pick a candidate – one candidate – for each seat. No choices.
A recent analysis by Citizens Union, a good-government group, found that 26 percent of New York legislators got their seats through appointment by party bosses after a vacancy.
We believe in choice and multiple candidates. In primaries, all interested candidates would petition to get on the ballot and the winners would move on to the November 8 general election.
At least Cuomo set the Special Election to coincide with Primary day, September 13, and saved the taxpayers the added expense of different voting days.
It is a shame that the people of CD 9 will not have the opportunity to select and elect their own representative from those who would serve.
This would have sent a loud, clear message to the independent reapportionment committee charged with redrawing district lines and eliminating two Congressional Districts in the state. Instead of being perceived as a weak CD, the 9th would have carried the added weight of the having a truly elected leader in Congress.