Politics is all about opportunism in the pursuit of victory.
If you can get an advantage over the other political party you don’t hesitate to take it. And if you can seize the opportunity while still playing within the existing rules, all the better for you. Screw the other guy.
This approach is not limited to one political party. The successful ones all do it.
So it should come as no surprise that Democrats in state government took full opportunistic advantage of a system established in their favor to design congressional and legislative lines that heavily favor themselves at the expense of Republicans. That’s what the Republicans would do if they were in the same position. It’s what Republicans are doing in states where they control the legislatures. In fact, it’s how Republicans managed to retain control of the New York State Senate and upstate for so many years.
The new lines led to districts for some legislators and congressional representatives that look like they were created in a lava lamp.
Some stretch across multiple municipal and county borders for many miles, connecting citizens at one end of a district who share few interests and issues with those at the other end.
They’re lines that separated powerful Republicans such as U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik from her base in Glens Falls and Queensbury and the military base in Rome. They’re lines that pit incumbent Republicans against one another in primaries as GOP districts are combined.
They’re lines that shifted the balance of political power more heavily toward Democratic strongholds in New York City and its suburbs, where the state’s population is growing.
Sure, Democrats in control of the process could have designed the districts to be in the best interests of the citizens rather than their own political fortunes. But why be fair and equitable when you have the opportunity not to be? To the victors go the spoils. If the Republicans want to draw the election boundaries, let them elect more Republicans. That’s how politics works.
The real problem here is with the process that allows them all to get away with this nonsense.
ATTEMPT AT INDEPENDENCE
Back in 2014, voters amended the state Constitution to create an independent redistricting commission, signaling to politicians that voters were fed up with partisanship.
The commission was supposed to remove the politics from the boundary-drawing process; to base boundaries on shared interests and protection of minority rights and rational divisions; and to avoid the gerrymandered mess that Gov. Kathy Hochul signed off on Thursday night.
Many were skeptical that it would work. And they turned out to be right.
The independent commission failed on its very first test. Republicans and Democrats on the commission failed to agree on a set of maps, resulting in each presenting their own separate proposals. At a stalemate, the rules allowed for them to go back and reach compromise. But they couldn’t even agree on a time to meet. Since the commission failed to produce a single set of maps, the Legislature was empowered to design them itself. (You’d almost think this was the Democrats’ plan all along!)
So guess what happened? Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature and the governor’s office, came up with maps that favored themselves.
The system the independent commission was designed to fix is still broken.
Is there a way to avoid a repeat in the future? Maybe.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
They could try to take politics out of the process by selecting truly independent arbiters with no political stakes in the game to serve on the redistricting committee — people such as respected retired judges and revered community leaders, and maybe a retired pope or two. But politics is very likely to creep into the process no matter who is selected, since even judgeships have political influences.
Speaking of judges, opponents of the maps could rely on the courts to overturn the lines.
On Thursday, Republicans filed a lawsuit against the new boundaries, contending the Congressional lines violate the intent of the 2014 constitutional amendment calling for fair and independent districts. (They plan to also challenge the legislative lines). The suit also alleges that the Legislature didn’t have the authority to draw the lines itself.
Experts say courts are reluctant to overrule legislatures on the topic, so the suit might be a long shot.
But on Friday, the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down lines drawn by a Republican legislature as being overly partisan gerrymandering and for violating several areas of that state’s constitution. The parties have two weeks to come up with new maps. So there might be a glimmer of hope for New York Republicans in the courts.
They could take a national approach to the problem. Members of Congress from both major parties, who are equally impacted by gerrymandering (depending on the political bent of their individual states), could pass federal legislation to quell gerrymandering across the country.
The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act would ban partisan gerrymandering by placing limits on extreme gerrymandering, and would eliminate loopholes that allow discrimination in redistricting. But with state legislative and congressional elections this year, time is running out for Congress to enact the national standard in time for this year’s party primaries in a few months, even if they could get agreement.
But fair elections and fair election boundaries benefit both political parties. Most importantly, they benefit the citizens, who are entitled to fair representation.
And isn’t politics supposed to be about serving the citizens?
It’s time to try a new approach, because as demonstrated by the New York redistricting process, the old way is about serving politicians, not the people.
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Categories: Editorial, Opinion
