Columnist Karen Rubin: Redistricting a vital issue for public

The Island Now

A year ago, after the Republicans controlling the Nassau County Legislature unveiled a redistricting map concocted in secret in a basement room, hundreds of people came out to protest the lack of public input, and the court agreed, setting aside that map until the county followed the process specified in its charter. The process called for a bipartisan redistricting commission to be appointed and to hold public hearings in order to draft a redistricting map.

Now, the Nassau County Temporary Districting Advisory Commission has announced a first round of public hearings to seek testimony from residents on how a new county legislative redistricting map should be drafted. The initial hearings will open in Elmont on Sept. 24 at 7 pm at the Elmont Public Library, and continue on Sept. 27  in Glen Cove,  Oct. 3  in Mineola, and Oct. 9 in Hempstead.  

It is vitally important for people who care about their communities having representatives who most properly represent them, stand up and be heard.

Indeed, that initial attempt by the Republicans to ram through a map was a clear warning of what could happen – and still might, in fact- a map that was so obviously an attempt to secure Republican control for at least a decade.

Under the that initial plan, Great Neck would have been split in half, north and south (instead of divided east-west) – not just splitting the school district, but also effectively eradicating any clout that Jews might have as a voting block in the county (despite being less than 2 percent of the population, Jews are not considered a protected minority), not to mention surgically stripping away Democratic votes so that they are melded into heavily Republican districts and therefore are erased. 

But the practical impact would be to cause a flip-flop of some 40,000 voters, from Judi Bosworth to Wayne Wink and visa-versa, so the ostensible reason, of “one-man, one-vote” by leveling out the populations of districts, is contradicted. What you are left with is rank political machinations.

Other districts were similarly reformed, less to balance out populations reflecting the 2010 Census, but to weaken the impacts of certain voting groups.

Last year, the comments were surprising and illuminating.

We learned that taking Terrace Avenue, one of our most blighted streets in Nassau County, out of village of Hempstead, and moving into Garden City, where residents complained they might be picked up on suspicion, just for walking down the tony avenues, was eye-opening. 

Elmont residents raised concern that a cohesive community in Elmont would be divided, just now benefitting from revitalization projects that will bring jobs, local shops would be divided, with the result that neighborhoods might not have a say in mitigating the impacts of gentrification.

Indeed, Fred Brewington, an attorney, who offered an alternative redistricting map and was so eloquent about the adverse impact the GOP map would have, sued in federal court; the judge set aside the decision because the county went forward with the commission and public hearings, but did not dismiss the case which can be reopened.

Long Beach and Seaford were not happy about being merged together.

These issues and concerns only came to light after hundreds of people flooded the Legislature to protest a hasty vote to adopt that plan – and even a tiny tweaking here and there did not address the major concerns.

It is vitally important that people come out again to raise their concerns, their suggestions and comments.

Francis X. Moroney, appointed by County Executive Ed Mangano to chair the commission, said he wanted the commission to start from scratch and not rely on any previous map – though the commissioners can, if they want to.

“Our goal is to collect testimony regarding people’s opinions about what people think the districting process is about, and what they would like to see the outcome to be.

“We’re trying  to have public input and explain to the public what the process is, and what they can respect from it, and responsibilities to fulfill the US constitutional obligations of one-person, one-vote, and making sure that whatever happens there is no Section 2 violations of the Voting Rights Act.

“That means we need to make certain that certain protected minority groups have an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice in minority-majority districts, where there is sufficient voting age population that if they wished to, could support a candidate.”

He did not disavow the previous Republican-produced map, and said that the controversy arose not over the map itself, but over “process” – and the courts sided with the Charter section that required forming a bipartisan commission and holding public hearings, “although the charter doesn’t require public hearings, common sense does.”

The Commission was formed in May and has until Jan. 5 to complete its work – which ideally would be to send a map that it recommends for adoption to the Legislature.

On the other hand, for the commission to actually come up with a redistricting map will depend on whether the members really have community interests, rather than party advantage, at heart.

That is because of the way the commission is structured, under the Nassau County Charter: 5 members appointed by the presiding officer of the Legislature, and five members appointed by the minority leader, who have voting rights, and a chairman, appointed by the county executive, who does not have a vote.

The five Republican Commission members are: Joseph Covello (a former judge who initially ruled in favor of the Republican redistricting plan last year); Joseph Ra; Henry Holley; Angela Powers and Jeffrey Stadler.

The five Democratic Commission members are: Bonnie Garone, David Mejias, Steve Markowitz, Wayne Hall, Sr. and Robert McDonald.

That means that if party-lines prevail, there will be a 5-5 vote, meaning that no plan is recommended to the Legislature.

How optimistic is Moroney that the Commission will adopt a map? 

“We’ll see. Some indications that some commissioners are less inclined to be compromising than others.”

Democrats on the commission have pushed to make the effort as transparent and to engage as many people as possible, going so far as to videotape the commissions’ meetings (http://tinyurl.com/Redistricting1), and creating its own group, Nassau Fair Redistricting (with the emphasis on “fair”), which is promoting the public meetings (it has its own facebook page for Democrats, https://www.facebook.com/NassauFairRedistricting).

“The point is to actually listen to each and every person concerned about the process, and hopefully work in bipartisan fashion to incorporate the ideas,” said Bonnie Garone, the chair of the Democratic members of the Commission. “That’s why Democrats are so committed to getting more of these kinds of meetings.”

In fact, the Democrats have already held three public meetings of their own in July, one in each town to get input early. “The Republicans refused to have commission meetings and would not join,” Garone said. 

“A number came, it was illuminating. People talked about importance of school district boundaries being taken into account, importance not just villages kept intact, but communities which may not be villages, not being divided.”

She said, “The goal is to hear from the public, take their comments into consideration and draft a map. If that process breaks down, we will come up with two maps.”

“We want to encourage people to go. This is the future of the county for 10 years, who represents you, because redistricting is an issue that people don’t understand on every level, the more people we can get into the room, the more we can take part in Nassau County’s future.

“Last year, hundreds who turned up who said ‘no, this happened in a basement, we want an open process’,” she said, adding that they posted a picture of the actual room in the basement of the County Building, with the windows literally covered up with paper. “Talk about transparency in government!”

So far, there is skepticism on both sides, which is not very encouraging.

Garone said that Moroney’s “process is to take us by surprise – he doesn’t share an agenda with us until the day before or the day of the hearing, so we can’t be prepared. We take that in stride.”

Moroney said that the goal will be to come up with districts for the 1.3 million Nassau County residents that are “compact, contiguous, as nearly equal in population as they can be, and where there are protected minorities, every effort to be in compliance.”

“This process will be very open,” he says. “the only parameters are the legal parameters…. no other parameters are on either side.”

What does he expect from the public comments? Will they be similar to the ones expressed last year, in the Legislature?

“I’m hoping that the public comment is not contrived, and not politically motivated, but genuinely, honest, grassroots input..

“There are a  lot of different communities of interest driven by religion, geography, school districts, whatever local interests are, and sometimes come into conflict with other community interests so people coming out to speak, or submitting written testimony, is all important, in order to find out what real people want, as opposed to political people.”

But, he acknowledges, there could ultimately be a partisan split of the Commission, a 5-5 vote that would result in no plan being adopted. Then it would be up to the Legislature to come up with its own plan.

“I have every reason to believe that the people on commission, Republican and Democrats are people of stature and good will and will rise above their partisan prejudice and there will be a plan.”

But in the end, Moroney said, “The outcome is like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

But here’s the other thing, even if the commission does come up with a draft map that (miraculously) is adopted, the Legislature still gets the final say. It can choose to accept the map, hold hearings on that map, and vote to accept that map, or create its own map (or pick up the one that was already presented, the one that Republican operatives created a year ago, or perhaps one that the Republican members of the Commission will draft).

All the more reason why a public record, public participation, public input is necessary – it will be harder to simply abandon a plan that reflects the people’s and the communities’ concerns in favor of a redistricting plan that strategically gives advantage to one party, basically guaranteeing that party’s control of the County for a decade or more.

The Commission is required to finish its work by January 5, 2013, then the Legislature, which can make its own modifications, has until March 5 to pass a map. 

The new districts will be in place in time for the November 2013 County Elections for County Executive and Legislature.

So far, these are the remaining dates and places for the first round of hearings:

October 3, 2012 – 6 pm

Nassau County

Legislative Chambers

1550 Franklin Avenue

Mineola, New York 11501

October 9, 2012 – 6 pm

Hempstead Town Hall

1 Washington Street

Hempstead, New York 11550

More information is available from the Co-Executive Directors: Matthew J. Kiernan (Republican), 516-571-5032 and 516-571-5033, fax: 516-571-5034 and Lauren Corcoran-Doolin (Democratic), 516-571-4401 and 516-571-4404, fax: 516-571-1616.

To send comments by email, http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/TDAC/contact.php or mail to:

Nassau Temporary Redistricting Commission Theodore Roosevelt,

Executive and Legislative Building

1550 Franklin Avenue

Mineola, NY 11501-4898.

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