redistricting
In Washington Heights, a loud debate about how Albany works
Espaillat went on the offensive, criticizing Guillermo for voting for the redistricting plan that included Republican-drawn gerrymandered lines for the State Senate. Espaillat referred to the plan as an "incumbency protection plan" and speculated Republicans would be able to hold onto the majority for the next ten years.
In response, Guillermo, a former City Councilman who served one term in the Assembly, accused Espaillat -- a legislator since 1996 -- for acting "as though he did not understand the rules and how things are decided in the legislature." More
The inexplicable power of the Albany Republicans, explained
As the Times' Thomas Kaplan points out today, Republicans have a fairly sturdy foothold in Albany, despite the fact that the state electorate is much more Democratic than Republican and the fact that the Assembly and the executive branch are both Democratic-controlled. More
'Does he really think anyone cares about this bullshit?': A tale of redistricting reform, starring Oblivious
Senate Democrats Michael Gianaris, Liz Krueger, Kevin Parker, Dan Squadron, Gustavo Rivera and Jose Peralta make fun of their effort to get Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign independent redistricting.
The joke hits on a real sore spot between Democrats in the State Senate and Cuomo, who signed off on gerrymandered redistricting maps drawn by Republicans in that chamber.
It was part of the Legislative Correspondence Association's annual roast of politicians in Albany, and features cameos from Errol Louis, Al D'Amato and David Paterson, among others.
Worth watching to the very end, if you care about this sort of thing. More
Asian, Hispanic and African-American groups count on a Council redistricting that bears no resemblance to Albany's
Last week, Andrew Cuomo and the state legislature reached a hard-fought agreement on redistricting state and federal lines in New York State. Now the politics start all over again, this time with the once-a-decade redrawing of the City Council lines. More
Cuomo says most redistricting critics are 'self-interested' or 'hypocritical'
New York Post state editor Fred Dicker asked him for his reaction to that criticism during his Talk 1300 radio show. The governor touted the legislature's agreement to pass a constitutional amendment that might curb gerrymandering, though many observers consider it deeply problematic, and then added, "Most of the critics on redistricting, when you look at it, they tend to be either self-interested for their own politics or hypocritical, frankly." More
In 2016, Andrew Cuomo is Syracuse, Chris Christie is Kentucky, and Hillary Clinton is Gonzaga
Is politics like a single-elimination basketball tournament, or a school that grades on the curve?
The Washington Post's The Fix has created NCAA-style brackets for the 2016 presidential race. Ranked number 1 for the Democratic Party is Andrew Cuomo. The Democrats' number 2 is Martin O'Malley., For Republicans, 1 and 2 are Marco Rubio and Chris Christie.) More
Cuomo saved Dean Skelos and permanently messed up the redistricting process to save New York from John Sampson
What's the deeper meaning of Governor Andrew Cuomo's decision to sign gerrymandered legislative lines into law, and lock in place a profoundly compromised redistricting process for the foreseeable future?
The Times, Democrat and Chronicle and Post-Star editorial pages say it cements dysfunction in Albany, and Albany-based Daily News columnist Bill Hammond trashed it as a trade-off by which the governor agreed to facilitate a massive gerrymander in exchange for, well, more awfulness. More
How the courts changed New York's congressional maps but not its delegation, much
Yesterday was last-ditch day for the parties unhappy with a federal court's proposed congressional lines for New York, and, barring some serious surprises from the three-judge panel overseeing the process, the city's delegation is unlikely to see much turnover as a result. More
Cuomo on the sequel to the bad old redistricting movie
There is a high probability that this process will not go smoothly ten years from now, or ten years after that. And New York lawmakers will assuredly not be out of the line-drawing business. More
Cuomo says redistricting is fixed, and on transparency: 'You can't live your life in a goldfish bowl'
Governor Andrew Cuomo this morning said that as a result of his grand bargain with the legislature, gerrymandering in New York State "is over."
"It’s over once and for all," Cuomo told Susan Arbetter on Albany's WCNY radio, adding, "And that is a big deal, because I came here to change the dysfunction, to fix the problems once and for all, even if it was hard. And we fixed this problem for the state and I feel very good about that." More
What Andrew Cuomo is about to do on redistricting, for the record
Andrew Cuomo has shown every indication, over the past couple of months, of wishing he never promised to fix New York's awful redistricting process.
He's rationalized his retreat in increments, from his warning that a court-run redrawing of the lines would result in "chaos," to the subjective conditions he laid out for an acceptable gerrymander, to his uncharacteristic claim of powerlessness, to his criticism of an independent judge's congressional map, to his lightly supported characterization of the latest gerrymandered legislative draft-map as "progress" from the previous gerrymandered version. More
(1)State Senate Republicans haven't totally given up on Bob Turner's district
Republicans in the State Senate are making one more last-ditch plea to protect Bob Turner's congressional seat.
Turner, who won a special election for what had been Anthony Weiner's seat in September, declared for the U.S. Senate yesterday, citing the proposed elimination of his district by the court's special master, Magistrate Judge Roanne L. Mann. More
The map that confirmed Bob Turner's bid for Senate, and preserved Rangel
The congressional lines proposed by Judge Roanne Mann this morning have very few changes from what she proposed a week earlier.
The district currently represented by Rep. Charlie Rangel would keep all of northern Manhattan together and absorb a portion of the south Bronx, increasing the number of Latino voters there. More
(2)With lines looking set, newly redeemed congressional candidate Hakeem Jeffries makes plan for petitioning
Last night, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries won the first important victory in his primary campaign against the longtime Representative Ed Towns, when the special master overseeing the court's redistricting process restored Jeffries' home, and parts of his political base, to the congressional district. More
At a rally to boost black and Latino representation in Congress, Espaillat cautions against redistricting 'crackers'
A prominent group of New York Democrats argued this weekend that Charlie Rangel's congressional district in Harlem needs to be preserved for an African-American successor while creating a new Latino congressional seat next door. More
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