Hmmm, redistricting. (I had forgotten)
The recent win, of Darrell Aubertine, in NY’s 48th was not only a big step in turning the NY Senate from red to blue, but also in helping to turn the US congress to cobalt. From Real Clear Politics:
After 2010, representatives of the Governor, the Assembly Speaker and the State Senate President will meet to redraw congressional and legislative district lines. Democrats hold the governor’s mansion, though incumbent Eliot Spitzer will have to seek re-election in 2010, and own a wide majority in the Assembly. Taking back the Senate would put control of redistricting entirely in their party’s hands.
Should that happen, not only will Democrats be able to redraw Senate borders to help their party win a new majority there, they will also be able to redraw Congressional borders and endanger some of the state’s six Republican delegates to Washington. New York will lose two seats next year, meaning at least a few members of Congress will be forced to run against fellow incumbents.
[snip]
Republican seats currently held by Reps. Jim Walsh, who is retiring, John McHugh, Randy Kuhl and Tom Reynolds could be in danger. All three represent upstate New York, where Democrats have seen a resurgence and have captured both legislative and Congressional seats in recent years.
This is an opportunity to get rid of the gerrymandering and to have fairly created districts who have their common interests represented. It didn’t happen with the Republican leadership. Let’s see what the Democrats do with it.
Now, I’m hoping that by the time redistricting becomes a reality, we have already defeated these scoundrels, but it is nice to know that there will be a “plan B” to keep the Dems safely seated.
The line in your comment that caught my eye was:
Let’s take this opportunity to enshrine anti-gerrymandering as law: let’s formalize that districting– at all levels– ought to be done either by an Iowa-style judicial committee or else through some unbiased mathematical formula.
It would be too easy to take a Texas approach and say that now that Democrats have both houses, we’ll gerrymander to ensure the entire delegation is blue.
I’d rather have an honest boundary setting– even if that means, in the immediate future, one or two fewer Ds representing NYS in Congress.
I agree completely. The emphasis needs to be on fairly drawn districts not on maximizing our own majority.
Of course, in the State Senate, fairly drawn districts will lead to a solid Democratic majority.
bingo
So in the next (Democratic) state Senate, we pass an anti-gerrymandering law. Then what? As soon as the Rethuglicans take over, they pass their own law allowing gerrymandering.
There has to be a better way … like amending the NY State Constitution. I know that is tougher to do, but it is also tougher to overturn. Nevertheless, enshrining the concept of fairly drawn boundaries into the State Constitution ought to be do-able.