We must begin redistricting now, not later

Last spring, the Republican-controlled County Legislature attempted to redraw the lines of its 19 electoral districts in an effort to gerrymander at least one Democrat, if not two, out of a job.

Peter Schmitt, the Republican presiding officer, claimed that the law required the county to act on redistricting in order to correct discrepancies in the population count of each district. According to the county charter, districts, which must be reconfigured every 10 years following the U.S. census, must have population counts of 70,000 each. A number of districts, Schmitt said, were well over that limit. To comply with the Constitution’s one-person, one-vote rule, district lines had to be redrawn sooner rather than later.

Democrats cried foul. The county charter, they said, did not mandate that district lines be redrawn immediately, but rather, simply “described.” The charter, they added, requires that the lines be finalized after a series of public meetings in which residents have the opportunity to comment.

Residents complained at public meetings and one hearing about the GOP’s redistricting plan. Republican legislators, however, refused to listen. They moved forward with what was clearly an untenable plan, hoping to implement it in time for the November election.

So the Democrats took them to court, where the plan was upheld, though it was not allowed to take effect for the 2011 election. It would have to wait.

Last August, Schmitt said he believed the courts had validated the GOP’s plan, and simply delayed its implementation. But if, like many residents, you consider it an unfair power grab by the Legislature’s Republican majority, now is the time to speak up and write to your local legislator to say so.

The plan would merge the 5th and 19th districts, now represented by Legislators Joseph Scannell, a Democrat from Baldwin, and David Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick, and move the 19th to the southwestern corner of the county, on the Queens border. That would effectively force a primary between two Democrats, one of whom would lose his seat.