The Independent View: NY General Election Redistricting Commission Initiative

Many New York good-government groups is urging voters to reject a constitutional amendment establishing a new redistricting commission, saying it's an “incumbent protection scheme” representing a glaring broken promise by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The commission must be affirmed by voters on the November ballot.

Cuomo's decision to sign off on the current set of district lines, which were decried and challenged, but ultimately upheld in court, prevented Democrats from taking control of the State Senate.

Democratic insurgent Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham law professor seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, is aligned with most good-government groups who say the amendment, which was crafted in 2012 in exchange for Cuomo abandoning a promise to reject new district lines drawn by legislators, doesn't go far enough.

“With a fair redistricting system we would have a Democratic Senate, and he ran on this: he pledged that the way we would draw districts would mean the way we have representatives in Albany would mirror the people of the state of New York, the failure of the Dream Act and the failure of Fair Elections are all traceable to the fact that we don't have a Democratic Senate, and we don't have a Democratic Senate because Governor Cuomo has not acted like he's wanted one.” Teachout said.

Currently, a bipartisan, bicameral commission of lawmakers draws districts, with the current majority in each house doing its best to lock in partisan advantage.

The independent commission would still be mostly appointed by legislators and give lawmakers the power to draw their own districts if two sets of the commission's draft lines were deemed unacceptable.

Good-government groups, including the New York Public Interest Research Group and Common Cause, say this level of legislative involvement is a fatal flaw. They hold a Monday press conference in Albany to make their case, and to give out an award for the oddest-shaped district.