Dem-friendly districts OK’d
New maps & limits to suits
New York Democrats rammed through new congressional maps that will give the party an edge in this year’s elections, then created new limits on legal challenges to their changes during an “emergency” vote Wednesday.
The vote on the Democratic-friendly maps happened so quickly after they were officially pitched that Gov. Hochul had to issue an emergency order to allow lawmakers to act.
With legal challenges looming, state lawmakers also passed a bill that limits the filing of suits against the changes to Democrat-friendly counties Erie, Albany, Westchester and New York (Manhattan).
The redrawn maps, which came after Democrats threw out a plan from a bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission, give a boost for the reelection of Rep. Tom Suozzi as well Rep. Jamaal Bowman, experts say. Democrat Hochul is expected to approve the plan.
The Senate passed the maps 45-17 and the Assembly approved them 150 to 33, mostly along partisan lines.
Outrage Wednesday was focused more on the legal maneuver than the maps.
An Assembly debate erupted on the legislation to limit where challenges could be filed that had already made its way through the Senate.
“Is this Russia?” asked Assemblyman Edward Flood (R-Suffolk) during the floor debate. “This sounds like it’s from a communist country.”
Assemblyman David Di Pierto (R-East Aurora) said, “This doesn’t pass the smell test. It goes against individual rights and everything we stand for.”
Incumbents favored
The successful 2022 lawsuit toppling the Democrats’ original maps was brought in upstate Steuben County and upheld by the mid-level court and the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest.
The Democrats set up the legal restrictions as billionaire conservative activist Ronald Lauder is mulling the bankrolling of a suit to block the maps.
But former GOP Rep. John Faso, a key architect of a successful 2022 challenge, said he wouldn’t file a suit this time.
“There’s no basis for a lawsuit,” Faso said.
“The plan the Democrats approved is not materially different from the maps the special master had drawn in 2022 after we won the case.”
The maps case two years ago, branded by critics as the “Hochulmander” lawsuit, led to district boundaries being reshaped by a courtordered special master.
State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox agreed with Faso.
“Despite Democrats’ ongoing corruption of the process, these lines are not materially different from those drawn by the special master,” Cox said. “As such, there is no need for further litigation.”
Republican lawmakers complained more about Democratic lawmakers’ decision to reject the IRC maps than the changes actually made to them.
“Unfortunately politics interjected itself. The maps favor incumbents,” said Sen. Anthony Palumbo (Riverhead).
Assemblyman Michael Durso (Massapequa Park) said the Democrats’ map changes affect 10 of 26 House districts.
In a bizarre turn of events, the lawmakers were forced to revisit the bruising redistricting issue this year after the Court of Appeals — with a new chief judge — reversed itself in December and ordered a do-over for the maps.