To Help Realign City Council Seats
A former lawmaker from Middle Village and a Forest Hills attorney have been chosen by the New York City Council to serve on the independent commission which will redraw the boundary lines of all 51 City Council districts in time for next year’s elections.
Eight of the 15 members of the commission were nominated by the City Council last Thursday, May 3; five of those appointments were made by the majority Democratic caucus, while the other three slots were picked by the Republican minority.
The remaining seven seats on the commission will be filled by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the weeks to come. According to the City Council’s website, “the party enrollment, if any, of these additional members shall be such that individuals enrolled in a single political party shall not be a majority of the total number of members of the commission.”
Among the City Council appointments to the commission are two local residents: former City Council Member Thomas Ognibene of Middle Village, who was chosen by the Republican caucus; and attorney Linda Lin of Forest Hills, who was selected by the Democratic caucus.
The other Democratic choices to the panel are Jamila Ponton Bragg of Manhattan, educational outreach manager at Sesame Workshop, the non-profit group behind the children’s television show, Sesame
The new 63rd district mostly covers Republican suburbs west and south of Albany.
The Republicans now hold a 32- 30 majority in the Senate, including most of the upstate and Long Island seats. Democrats have a 2-to-1 voter enrollment advantage in the state and said most of the population growth was in the New York City area, where they have most of the Senate seats.
“While we are disappointed with today’s decision, we are hopeful that remaining legal challenges will overturn the unfair state Senate maps,” said Mike Murphy, spokesman for the Senate Democratic Conference. “In any event, Senate Democrats remain confident that even if the existing gerrymandered maps are ultimately upheld, Democrats will gain seats and retake the majority in the state Senate this November.”
The case follows two years of promises to change the process, including signed pledges by every Re- publican senator when they were in the near powerless minority to support only independently drawn lines. Cuomo also promised to veto lines not drawn by an independent commission. Neither pledge to Ed Koch, the former New York City mayor turned government reformer, was kept.
“We said all along when I signed the bill, that I would sign the bill and there would be judicial review and then we’ll find out,” Cuomo said last Thursday. “So that would be the determination on that.”
“Legal it may be, but reform it is not,” said Bill Samuels, co-founder of the EffectiveNY think tank and the New Roosevelt good-government group.
“Now with the New York Court of Appeals upholding the 63rd seat, Gov. Cuomo has basically allowed approved and mandated outdated, horse-and-buggy math, which is a big step backwards for redistricting reform advocates,” Samuels said.
Another lawsuit is pending in federal court.
Last Friday, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said in a letter that the U.S. Justice Department has no objections to adding a 63rd seat under provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act, designed to ensure that minorities have a voice in government and that political district boundaries meet the “one person, one vote” principle.
State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Long Island Republican, said he was grateful for Thursday’s ruling, which showed the reapportionment plan is fair and complies with the state constitution. “It was the Senate Democrats who wrongly dragged us into court and wasted taxpayer money pursuing this matter,” he said.
Associated Press writer Michael Gormley contributed to this report from Albany.
