Bipartisan committee gets its first appointees

Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro has appointed two people to a seven-person bipartisan committee.

A former Dutchess County judge and a professor of government at Dutchess Community College will be among seven county residents who will recommend both changes to the county’s ethics law and a plan for an independent redistricting process.

The seven-member bipartisan committee, jointly established by Legislature Chairman Dale Borchert and County Executive Marc Molinaro, was announced Thursday.

Molinaro, who will appoint three members to the committee, said Friday that Dutchess County Judge Gerald Hayes and Professor Richard Reitano have agreed to serve on the committee. He said he is in the process of appointing a third representative.

Borchert, D-Lagrange, who will appoint four members to the committee, said he is also reaching out to people who he would like see serve.

The committee will be charged with reviewing and making recommendations for updates to the county’s ethics code as well as recommendations on the redistricting process that will take place following the 2020 U.S. census.

Communities are required to redraw political district lines after each U.S. Census to reflect population shifts and ensure that elected representatives represent a roughly equal number of residents.

The two men said the committee wouldn’t be charged with redistricting, but rather, recommend a process that would result in an independent redistricting plan.

In the past, the majority party has been responsible for developing a new legislative district map. Borchert led the redistricting effort in 2000.

“The committee isn’t drawing the lines. This committee is being asked to develop a process by which legislative districts would be drawn independently,” Molinaro said.

As part of the redistricting review, the committee would also be responsible for recommending any changes to the number of members on the Legislature and legislative salaries. As part of the 1990 redistricting, the size of the Legislature was reduced to 25 from 35 members.

That the committee is also being asked to review the county’s Code of Ethics is something Borchert said has been discussed before.

“A few years ago (the former Legislature chairman) tried to put together an ethics committee, but it came to an end in the Legislature,” he said. “When we dealt with it the last time, there was concern over who could report and how to report it. There were a couple legislators who were there at the time who were strongly and adamantly against the idea that someone could make an anonymous complaint.

“I don’t have that concern,” he said.

The committee has been charged with issuing a report, including recommendations, on both topics by July 2018.