No redistricting for 2011 election

Nassau County’s district lines will remain as they have been for the past eight years for the 2011 election, according to state Supreme Court Justice Steven Jaeger, who ruled last week that 2013 is the earliest that a county redistricting plan — crafted by the county attorney’s office earlier this year at the suggestion of District 12 Republican Legislator Peter Schmitt — could be implemented.

“There is no basis in the Nassau County Charter itself, the legislative intent, the legislative history or the established past practice of the legislature to immediately adjust the 19 county legislative districts for the 2011 general election,” Jaeger wrote in his ruling. He went on to explain that although the adoption of the plan is in accord with the charter, it is void until 2013 because it did not follow the appropriate format.

Section 112 of the charter requires that district lines be “described” by the Legislature within six month after it receives data from the U.S. Census — in this case the 2010 census. Jaeger wrote that “described” does not mean “redrawn,” which is how the Republicans interpreted the mandate, and said that the charter requires the redistricting process to begin in 2012 and end in 2013, in time for that election.

The Legislature is required by the charter to redraw lines every 10 years. The last map was drawn in 2003. But this year, Republicans said that the need to redistrict was urgent. They contended that the population deviation of 22.7 percent — the difference between the least- and most-populous districts — far exceeded the permitted deviation, and thus violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal-protection clause.

“The deviation may have been in place five years ago, but you don’t go out and do a redistricting every time you think you’ve observed a deviation — you wait and go through the established process,” said Legislator Robert Troiano, a Democrat who represents the 2nd Legislative District and who was a vocal opponent of the redistricting plan. “I think it’s unfortunate that the Republicans, at a time when Nassau is going through a financial crisis, have undertaken this costly political power grab, and I hope that they’ll come to their senses now and return to the business of governing Nassau County.”

Troiano, who was elected in 2009, went on to call the judge’s ruling “vindication,” and said he was “thrilled by [Jaeger’s] decision and the opportunity to continue representing Lakeview.”

Jaeger signed a restraining order in April barring the Legislature from voting on the new lines, but an appellate judge overturned the decision and the redistricting plan was approved 10-8 on May 24, with 10 Republicans voting for the plan and seven Democrats voting against it. Legislator Denis Ford, who represents the 4th L.D., was the only Republican who voted against the measure.

But Jaeger would not have it. Six days after the Legislature approved the plan, he signed a temporary restraining order barring County Executive Ed Mangano, the County Board of Elections and the County Legislature from adopting the plan. The order prohibited action from being taken until the case was heard in court.

The plan drew criticism from many Democrats, who claimed it was an unlawful power grab by the GOP majority, while members of the county’s African-American community said at a May 9 hearing on the proposal that it would dilute the minority vote and potentially violate the Voting Rights Acts of 1965.