Honest Redistricting is Key to Restoring Honest Government

            For far too long, New York has had the dubious distinction of having “the most dysfunctional legislature in the nation.”

The reason for this is clear: competitive elections in New York State are virtually nonexistent.    They have largely vanished due to practices such as using taxpayer funded newsletters as thinly veiled campaign literature; the use of member items to force voter loyalty; and, most importantly, the establishment of districts that virtually insure reelection bids.

It is doubtful that any of these corrupt practices will ever be corrected by incumbents whose reelection is guaranteed no matter how badly they behave.  Add to these misdeeds the clearly illegal acts of numerous elected officials who have been caught stealing money, in one way or the other, from the public treasury, and the increasingly worrisome practice of voter fraud, and you have a clear picture of a legislature that is, by every measure, a disgrace.

Despite their dismal performance, more incumbents leave office through death and indictment than through losing re-election.  The facts are staggering: The re-election rate since 2002 has been 96%.  In one particular year, 2006, 100% of all incumbents that ran for reelection won.  That would have been embarrassing even in the old Soviet Union.  The situation is getting worse.  As Citizens Union reports, “The number of uncontested state general election legislative races (in which there is no opponent or no major party challenger) increased from 1 percent in 1968 to 19 percent of all seats in 2010.” More State Senators and Assembly members leave office due to death and indictment than they do to losing campaigns.

 Last year, former NYC mayor Ed Koch spearheaded a drive to demand nonpartisan redistricting. Before the 2010 election, almost every incumbent state senator and assembly member signed a written pledge to support that goal, a vow they completely ignored once the voters finished casting their ballots.  Federal law mandates that district lines must be redrawn to comply with the census taken that year.

A special report by Citizens Union was recently released, noting that:

            “The rigged system of redistricting is corrupting the spirit and reality of representative democracy in New York.  It has become a form of collusion between the two parties, drawing safe districts that protect incumbents and limit voter choice by effectively ending competitive elections.  This in turn…[gives] disproportionate influence to special interests.  An independent redistricting commission would empower people to choose their politicians, rather than vice versa. No election reform would do more to heal the harsh but artificial polarization of our politics while adding real accountability to Albany.”

            Having elected officials determine their own districts is absurd.  A truly nonpartisan redistricting commission should exclude elected officials, their direct staffs or other appointees, their families, and their business associates. The same should hold true for party officials.

It is clear that democracy in the Empire State is in a deep crisis which can only be resolved by a truly representative legislature that is the product of genuinely fair elections.