NY Dems vs. Democracy
It turns out New York Democrats started plotting to defy the public’s will to pull off the grotesque Hochulmander from the very start — long before the voter-chosen nonpartisan process to draw fair election districts had even begun. Happily, the state’s courts stopped the conspiracy from succeeding (mostly).
Per records obtained by WSKG News and City & State, the Democratic-controlled state Senate and Assembly started in June 2021 hiring law firms to help get away with drawing and defending blatantly illegal voting districts. The bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission — which, under the state Constitution, is to handle redistricting — hadn’t yet even announced any public hearings.
Democrats were determined to end-run the Constitution (and the voters) to ensure their one-party rule far into the future. In 2014, recall, New Yorkers passed a constitutional amendment putting the IRC in charge specifically to prevent lawmakers from drawing voting maps to benefit themselves at the public’s expense. It explicitly banned boundaries “drawn to discourage competition or for the purpose of favoring or disfavoring incumbents or other particular candidates or political parties.”
Alas, it did let lawmakers reject IRC maps, if they saw fit, and then (eventually) draw them themselves. With supermajorities in both houses, Democrats decided in advance to do just that — and to hell with demands for fair districts. Dems even flouted the Constitution’s plain-English anti-gerrymandering language, as the courts ultimately said when tossing their maps and hiring a special master to re-do House and state Senate districts this year.
The courts also found Assembly districts were illegally drawn, but that replacement map won’t kick in ’til 2024; there, the Hochulmander stands.
As the Times Union reports, GOP Assembly candidate David Catalfamo says he has proof Democrats shaped the 113th Assembly District to boost incumbent Carrie Woerner’s odds for re-election, and indeed Woerner’s own public statements seem to confirm it.
And as her fellow Dems schemed, Gov. Hochul actually bragged that she planned to use her power as governor to boost Democrats’ prospects. “I’m a Biden Democrat,” she crowed, merrily signing off on legislation to enable it.
The plot was as sleazy as could be, denying New York voters fair representation in Albany and Congress. So much for Democrats’ screams about the “threats to democracy.”
And while the courts stopped the plot (mostly), that’s only inspired Dems to take aim at the courts: The pressure on Hochul to name a more-partisan replacement for retiring state Chief Judge Janet DiFiore is intense.
Which means that if voters don’t reject Hochul and as many Democratic state legislators as possible in this election, the plot to make future elections almost irrelevant will return to life, with a strong chance of succeeding on the second try.