It seems my op-ed, “The right way to redistrict now” in the NY Post, has generated responses. First, former Mayor Ed Koch penned his own op-ed assailing “minor pols” and others who opposed an independent redistricting panel. Then last week, Assembly Speaker Silver issued a statement asserting that the legislature’s redistricting commission, LATFOR, will count state prisoners at the former residences as required by a 2010 law.
On Wednesday, two articles about LATFOR and redistricting appeared in the Legislative Gazette and the Gotham Gazette. I was quoted in both articles. The Albany Times-Union published an editorial, “The right way to redistrict” (sounds familiar?) arguing against allowing LATFOR to continue.
Dilan still has doubts on prison gerrymandering
Legislative Gazette
Former Bronx Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, who supported a bill that would require inmates to be counted at their previous address, said the 2010 law… (Read more)
The Times-Union deems the state Legislature’s partisan redistricting committee “an insurmountable obstacle to public confidence in democracy” saying further:
So there was the state Legislature, holding hearings last week on how to redraw its own district lines in time for its members to run for re-election next year. Can state government get any more surreal? These are hearings that no matter how they turn out, never should have taken place.
Thus began the Albany Times-Union editorial against the state legislature’s redistricting effort.
The Gotham Gazette wrote a more balanced report on the circumstances surrounding the redistricting process and the opposition to LATFOR. As the legislature’s redistricting task force begins work the key debate centers not on where the lines will be drawn but on who will draw them.
