Albany Democrats work covertly to oppose public wishes

If there was one action taken in voting to eliminate congressional maps created by the bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission, the Democrats in charge of New York’s Legislature have shown their disrespect for the clear desires of the voters in the Empire State.

Repeatedly, the public has supported a fair process that aims for neutral districts; however, the Democratic supermajorities in the Assembly and state Senate have consistently worked against that goal – with Senate Democrats even taking steps to influence New York’s highest court to facilitate further gerrymandering.

However, beyond rejecting the commission’s maps, it appears that the decision-makers chose a more cautious approach this time.

Initial analysis of their modifications to the commission’s maps indicates that this move is less extreme than the Democrats’ previous attempt in 2022, which was stopped by the courts to prevent blatant gerrymandering.

In fact, one of the major changes seems to primarily benefit Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-Bx./Westchester) in his primary race against another Democrat, Westchester County Exec George Latimer.

Rumors suggest that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie may have influenced this move out of concern that a Latimer victory would prevent the Bronx Democratic machine from controlling the seat in the future.

These seem like minor adjustments.

Other changes will assist Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-LI) in retaining his seat in November by making his district slightly more Democratic, and making the races of several Republicans elected in 2022 more challenging.

It is evident that the leaders of the Legislature avoided more aggressive actions out of fear of another legal defeat in court (a battle that would also delay the planned June primaries).

In other words, Democratic leaders decided to only provide House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-B’klyn), who had urged them to go beyond respecting the commission’s maps, with a minor boost in his quest to become speaker.

In summary, they did as much as they believed they could without attracting public attention – while still reaping some benefits from their efforts to push for “extra” redistricting.

The unfortunate reality is that all of these calculated actions to serve partisan interests are likely the best that voters can expect from the current state of “leadership” in Albany.