Independent Redistricting: A Reality In New York?
By MICHAEL SCHENKLER
Last week, on this page, in a column titled: “LATFOR: A Sorry Excuse For Good Government,” I lambasted the very lambastable New York State Legislature.
“It’s pretty black and white. The New York State Legislature has been the most dysfunctional in the nation for well over the past decade.
Every ten years, they get the chance to start anew. The law requires a redrawing of legislative districts based on the change in population as compiled by the United States Census, taken every ten years.
Well, when it comes to the New York State Legislature, you can be pretty damn sure that you’ll find consistency. Even though a majority of legislators pledged, during the last election cycle to support independent, non-partisan redistricting, they are back to the same old, same old. . .
How does the Legislature respond?
They appoint the Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research — known as LATFOR – and send them around the state to hold hearings.
In Albanese, LATFOR means stooges for the Legislative Leaders. As long as the heavy hands of the leaders of the Senate and Assembly are guiding the process, they are really drawing the maps.
It is more about incumbency and less about party.
Yes, the game has always been a bi-partisan effort to make sure incumbents have districts they can win. The Dems control the Assembly maps and the Republicans, the Senate. And the lack of competitive races continues to stifle the true election process in government to the detriment of the people.
Yes, when the legislature controls the redistricting process, the winners are the incumbent legislators, the legislative leadership and the special interests that continue to fund the nation’s most dysfunctional legislature.
The losers are the people.”
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| The apparent hero of reform and redistricting, Governor Andrew Cuomo. |
Now don’t get me wrong. While I deservedly condemned the entire State Legislature, there have been a few small voices from that body calling out for a process that was independent. Queens’ Mike Gianaris, who moved from the Assembly to the Senate last year, has been a longtime advocate for an independent commission. But years ago, he acknowledged to me, that the uphill fight seemed mountainous at the time.
Well, welcome to the mountaintop.
My column closed last week with a challenge to the Governor, who up to this point in his short tenure has been an impressive and effective advocate for the people and for reform.
“Is there a hero in the room?
Perhaps.
But sometimes heroes bargain and trade instead of being heroic.
There are budgets and legislative programs that also need the vote of the legislature and they can be held hostage to enforce their involvement in redistricting.
But true heroes can withstand the threats of future votes and the temptation to trade.
We wonder if Andrew Cuomo, an early signer of the ‘pledge,’ is truly a hero of reform.”
On Friday, the day following the publication of this column, Andrew Cuomo, appearing on The Capitol Pressroom,” a statewide public radio program, made himself crystal clear on the subject of LATFOR and the Legislature’s involvement in redistricting:
“I believe the process is not independent and I don’t see how a non-independent process can come up with an independent product.”
“I therefore would veto a bill that was not an independent product.”
Bravo!
Follow me on Twitter @MSchenkler
MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com
How We Get Better Leaders? Looking At 1976
By HENRY STERN
Today we will discuss events in the memorable year in our history, the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence.
James Buckley, brother of the the author William F. Buckley, who ran for Mayor in 1965, was a United States Senator from New York. James had been elected on the Conservative Party line in 1970, when the liberal vote was divided between Democrat Richard Ottinger, a Congressman, and Republican-Liberal Charles Goodell, who had been appointed to the Senate in 1968 by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller to fill the vacancy caused by the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Senator Goodell had five sons, one of whom is Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League.
James Buckley, brother of the the author William F. Buckley, who ran for Mayor in 1965, was a United States Senator from New York. James had been elected on the Conservative Party line in 1970, when the liberal vote was divided between Democrat Richard Ottinger, a Congressman, and Republican-Liberal Charles Goodell, who had been appointed to the Senate in 1968 by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller to fill the vacancy caused by the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Senator Goodell had five sons, one of whom is Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League.
Moynihan had narrowly won the Democratic primary in a race that featured three candidates from the party’s left wing: Congresswoman Bella Abzug, former City Council President Paul O’Dwyer and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Abe Hirschfeld, a garage magnate later imprisoned for the criminal solicitation of a hit man to kill his former business partner, ran fifth. After his release from prison, he ran again for the Senate.
Under the New York State Election Law, political parties are required to nominate candidates before Primary Day. The minor parties, therefore, must make their choices before the major parties. The Liberal Party could not foresee who would win the Democratic primary for the Senate. The identity and philosophy of the Democratic nominee would be a major factor in determining whom the Liberals would choose. It was therefore necessary to select a candidate who could withdraw after the primary. The law provided only three paths to withdrawal: death of the candidate, moving out of the State of New York, or nomination for a judicial office. It was therefore desirable to nominate a lawyer, who would be able to depart from the race honorably and safely if circumstances warranted a substitution.
At that time, I was City Councilmember at Large from Manhattan, and the only elected Liberal in the state. I was asked to be the Senate candidate and, of course, accepted. When Pat Moynihan won the Senate primary, the Liberal Party found a candidate it could proudly support, and I was nominated by the party for the New York State Supreme Court, an office that had always been filled by major party nominees. What would have happened if Bella Abzug had defeated Moynihan is a question that will never be answered. Alex Rose, leader of the Liberal Party, died in December 1976. However, even if Ms. Abzug had received the Liberal nomination, she might have lost to Senator Buckley. Moynihan defeated Buckley by about 585,000 votes. He was considered a moderate liberal and appealed to a broader range of voters than Ms. Abzug. Of course, no one can be certain with regard to hypothetical contests.
The determining event in that primary was the New York Times’ last-minute support for Moynihan, a decision made by publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger (not the present publisher, but his father) to over-rule the editorial board, which had supported Ms. Abzug. That was an extremely important choice, because Senator Moynihan, who had been U.S. Representative to the United Nations and had advised four Presidents (two Democrats and two Republicans) was re-elected three times and enjoyed an extraordinary reputation. Moynihan retired in 2000 and was succeeded by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who served until she resigned in 2009 to become Secretary of State.
Return with us now to the thrilling days of yesteryear. The other New York Senate seat was occupied successively by Jacob K. Javits, four terms, 1957-81; Alfonse D’Amato, three terms, 1981-99; and Charles E. Schumer, 1999 to the present. The seat Moynihan held was held, as we have noted by, James Buckley, Charles Goodell and Robert F. Kennedy, who defeated Kenneth Keating, a Rochester Republican congressman. FYI, years ago, New York was considered a Republican state.
The governor in 1976 was the late Hugh Carey (Rockefeller had become Vice President under Ford). The state comptroller was Arthur Levitt, a Democrat who served from 1955 to 1978 (six four-year terms), longer than anyone else in the history of the office. The attorney general was Louis J. Lefkowitz, a Republican, who also had the longest tenure in that position, 1957 to 1979 (five and one half terms). Lefkowitz succeeded Jacob Javits, also born on the Lower East Side, who resigned as AG when he was elected to the Senate in 1956.
Do public officials today measure up to the standards of those of a generation or two ago? I think probably not. It is altogether possible that the bosses did a better job of choosing candidates for high office than the consultants and sloganeers who now manage political campaigns for hire. After all, Alfred E. Smith and the first Robert F. Wagner were plucked by Tammany Hall from the mediocracy of the state legislature. And are any boss-chosen governors comparable to Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson?
We close with a memorable couplet by the satirical poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744), who wrote in “An Essay on Man” in 1734:
“For Forms of Government let fools contest;
Whate’er is best administer’d is best.”
StarQuest@NYCivic.org
