Grains of Salt (v51): Fair Redistricting Matters

Grains of Salt

Last Tuesday, voters in the city of Syracuse approved a proposition that will lead to creation of an independent commission of city residents to handle the Common Council redistricting after the 2020 census.

Many folks are at least tangentially aware of issues with redistricting around the country; for example, the Supreme Court has heard a number of cases over the years, dealing with issues of race, population, who gets to do the redistricting, and whether partisanship is good or bad.

Personally, I'm not a fan of having politicians do their own redistricting; we've seen too, too many times how this works to benefit them and not us. That doesn't mean that all politicians are bad, or self-serving, or more interested in their own longevity - but there's so many examples of exactly that,  like this battle in Pennsylvania, or this one in North Carolina, that I'd rather someone like me tried to figure out. 

The rules for Syracuse that our vote amended say that if any of the five districts falls below 15% or above 25% of the total population, the districts must be redrawn, and any new district must contain between 17% and 23 of the population. The Common Council voted earlier this year to amend the charter to allow for the independent commission, as long as voters agreed.

The Council's decision came after the County Legislature voted against making the same change.  Here's County Legislator Chris Ryan, a member of the Democratic minority, talking to WRVO about the lines drawn years ago:

Our finished product, when we redid the legislative districts almost a decade ago, was seriously flawed, and probably should have been challenged legally. We should lean on our community leaders, our civic groups, academia and people who do this kind of thing, and consult with them, so we can put forth a better product.

Here's what he's talking about, from WRVO's report:

The lines were drawn  to fit more than 27,000 people in a district. 

But the result is a hodgepodge of meandering lines, dividing up the city of Syracuse into nine out of 17 county districts, located completely or partly within the city. Republicans hold a 12 to 5 advantage in the legislature, despite there being more registered Democrats in the County.  

Legislature Chairman David Knapp, while saying the Republicans are "looking at opening up the redistricting process" sometime in the future (and maybe even holding a public meeting), expressed some concerns with having a commission now instead of waiting until after the census.

We just felt it was adding another bureaucratic commission that really didn't have any teeth, to advise a commission that's already in place. In this really highly charged political environment we're in, finding nonpartisan groups is pretty tough these days. 

He's right - we are in a "highly charged political environment " - in part because of things like how district lines are drawn, how that dissuades many voters from participating (at best), and disenfranchises them (at worst). It's also in part because of the distrust of the elected in those who elect them (and conversely); it's also in part because of the assumption that finding nonpartisan people is impossible. I'd say it probably is, if your premise is that you won't.   

We know that redistricting shenanigans have happened here in NY, because former State Senator John DeFrancisco told us so, about not only protecting a political party, but protecting a specific potential future candidate for state office. Take a look at these excerpts from DeFrancisco's book, as reported by Teri K. Weaver of Syracuse.com | The Post Standard.

When it was time to redraw state political districts nearly a decade ago, former state Sen. John DeFrancisco rejected an early version of proposed changes to the district he represented.

Why? It left out the town of Onondaga, DeFrancisco writes in his new memoir.

Bob Antonacci, another Republican, lives in Onondaga.

And DeFrancisco, a veteran senator who was then in his mid-60s, was already thinking about who might run for the district when he retired.

“I objected, since Bob Antonacci lived in the town of Onondaga,” DeFrancisco writes in his book, “Never Say Never: Adventures in NY Politics.”

“I wanted to keep open the possibility that he could run for my seat if he was interested when the time came,” DeFrancisco writes.

And that’s just what happened.

Yep -- a proud moment for the double-dipping former Senator, don't you think? The guy who said we needed him more than he needed us?

Granted, I could simply retire and not serve any longer. However, now that Republicans have regained control of the State Senate, Central New York would be better served by my returning to my Senate seat, as a majority member and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee (emphasis added).

And apparently we'd be better served by having a district map drawn to help get someone somewhere off in the distant future get elected? 

If we needed a reason why we need impartial redistricting in New York, and in Onondaga County, and in the city of Syracuse, I'm not sure we'll find one better than this. Oh -- eventually, Antonacci did run, did win by a narrow margin, and then after less than a year in office, rn for and win a seat on the State Supreme Court bench. So much for DeFrancisco's plan.

Fair Maps CNY obtained commitments from most incumbents and candidates running for city and county 'district' seats to support fair and nonpartisan redistricting, which sets us up well for getting this right after the 2020 census.  

Among the folks signing the pledge? Legislature Chairman David Knapp.