Redistricting and gerrymandering happens every 2 years. Let’s try not to get too excited about it.
In fact, I commented on this just a few days ago.
Life’s tough all over.
No. All politicians are hypocrites. I just want a record of this the next time some Democrat screams about the evils of Republican gerrymandering.
In March 2012, New York governor Andrew Cuomo expressed support for a state constitutional amendment that would, he said, “permanently reform the redistricting process in New York to once and for all end self-interested and partisan gerrymandering.” Sponsored in the state assembly by top Democrats and Republicans and endorsed by influential nonprofits and “good government” advocates, the amendment—called Proposal 1—passed overwhelmingly in the state legislature, was affirmed with over 57 percent of the popular vote on the 2014 ballot, and became part of the state constitution. But just seven years after its approval, and before it was ever implemented, the amendment may be removed and replaced.
What accounts for such a turnaround? The answer is simple. Albany Democrats have something that they didn’t have during the last redistricting cycle: absolute one-party control of New York’s state government.
Huh. Imagine that.
I guess that’s just when the other side does it.
New York State Republican Committee Chairman Nick Langworthy immediately vowed to challenge the redistricting plan, saying that Democrats “are going to stonewall and drag this process out hoping New Yorkers aren’t paying attention so partisan legislators can draw their own maps.”
“Like everything else under Democrat control in New York, this process is a political sham built on a foundation of lies and hypocrisy,” he said in a prepared statement.
Meh. It is what it is. Gerrymandering has been with us forever. Until you start laying out districts in little squares based totally on population counts, this is going to happen. And the party that it’s done to isn’t going to like it.
Life’s tough all over.
