NY Dems Aggressive Redistricting Mirrors Their Charges Against Republicans: NY’s Government, Democracy & Opposition to Suffer

By Gary Tilzer

The world of Orwell’s “1984,” where free thought was replaced with group think, is beginning to feel a lot like the results of the Democratic redistricting in what is already a one-party controlled NYC. Aggressive partisan redistricting is occurring in NYC at the same time the National Democratic Party is arguing that Republicans gerrymandering congressional districts threatens the soul of American democracy. Who is defending the soul of NY’s democracy?

Washington Democrats are attacking Republican redistricting in states like Texas to gain support for the John Lewis Act to pass Congress, which if the law was already enacted, would strike down the new Democratic redistricting of NY, which eliminates at least half of the GOP Congressional Districts in the state. Longtime Staten Island Democratic activist Allen Cappelli admitted the redrawn district is a Democratic gerrymander but insists it is “no less a gerrymander than what Republicans in charge of redistricting do in states such as Texas.”

One-party redistricting: 1) Assure the left-wing increasing political control of NY; 2) Assure two million non-democrat registered moderate voters cannot vote in the election that already chooses 85% of the city’s elected officials, the Democratic Primary; 3) The current insiders who have not solved the city’s problems, made them worse, will have more power to control City Hall and Albany; 4) It’s about the public being cut out twice – once after voting for Independent redistricting and second building powerful incumbents that will not listen to them.

The partisan redistricting also confirms to the 80% of New Yorkers who do not show up to vote, that their vote is indeed worthless, that elected officials even use the levers of government to sabotage the State Constitution, to protect their jobs. In 2014 the state voters passed a constitutional amendment for independent redistricting, which has been completely subverted by those in control of Albany to give those in office more power and the only thing they care about, easy reelections. The redistricting whose original intent was to include citizens in their government equally, now only serves incumbents to give them job security; it also cuts neighborhoods apart, to prevent the public from organizing to pressure elected officials to meet their needs and safety. A powerless voter cannot protect themselves, their families, or our democracy.

For those caring New Yorkers who hope the city’s economy will be turned around, bad schools fixed and crime, homelessness and mental illness reduced on our streets, the sad news to those who love NYC, is that the same elected officials, political class, lobbyists, will not only stay in office or power, but they will control more of government and the election system after redistricting.

How NY Will Be Governed for the Next Ten Years After Partisan Redistricting is Being Ignored by the Media as They Report Only on Winners and Losers

Local journalism after the destruction of the newspaper business by the internet has dumbed down into a kind of group think, resembling the children’s game of telephone, where everyone repeats the same story. The press is not reporting on what heavy-handed redistricting means to the average New Yorker.

All the reporters covering redistricting are writing about are the district lines and the party, political winners, and losers. They are not reporting on how the Democratic redistricting Coup D’état will affect how the citizens of NY will be governed. Many reporters think the oddly shaped districts are a big joke. NY1 reporter Pat Kiernan in a lame attempt make fun of the gerrymandered, attempted a drive thru video of the new Nadler congressional 10^th district which starts on the Upper Westside, makes a 75 blockwide arch in Brooklyn to make room to connect the GOP controlled Staten Island congressional district of Malliotakis. The Brooklyn Arch is bigger in height than the 630 feet St. Louis Arch was built to connect the heavily democratic high turnout Park Slope to the Staten Island congressional district, to remove the only Republican congressional member in the city.

NY1 Reporter Kiernman was the first visitor to the Brooklyn Arch, on his drive thru, did not talk about Malliotakis’ support for the mayor’s unpopularity with the left, crime fighting plan and the governor’s decision not to tax the rich out of the city, opposing Albany’s leaders who support more millionaire taxes. What happens to decent or opposing views in NYC if Malliotakis is replaced by a Park Slope type elected congressperson, like de Blasio who opposes bail reform to hold those suffering from mental illness to keep our subways & streets safe and wants to tax the rich?

The NY Times writes about how NY’s redistricting will be ‘Taking the Voters Out of the Equation’: How the Parties Are Killing Competition, but does not explain how disconnecting voters from elections affects government or what Democrats ignoring a Constitution Amendment in a one-party state does to voter participation and future elections. The NY Times published an Op-Ed “Republicans ‘Have Chosen to Wreck the Nashville District’ (by plucking the chicken man) but nothing about how NY Democrats are eliminating 4 Republican districts in their home one-party state.

The past generations of reporters & publishers learned their life lessons during WWII, Vietnam War and on the streets of NYC, they understood what dysfunctional bad government does to people’s lives, they lived it. This generation of reporters & publishers learned at a private out of town, socialist prep-school journalism class, on how to cover a city through the political narrative they follow.

Sal Albanese Twitter @SalAlbaneseNYC: “If you read the news about redistricting in New York, it’s all about the score, who wins, who loses, no analysis. . . M-much of the political media in New York is part of the political class by allowing pols to shape the narrative. How else can u explain allowing @andrewcuomo & the legislature to classify a redistricting body appointed by GOP & Dems as “independent. . . Voters want their problems addressed. The political system as presently structured only benefits the political class (insiders). It’s not aligned with public interest. We need to revamp it so 17% of registered voters don’t elect the mayor & as low as 9% elect PA & Comptroller.”

What does partisan redistricting mean when the self-defined infallible left-wing elite already controls the city and state? The City Council has already defunded the NYPD and Albany has reformed the bail system, which triggered our current crime wave. Partisan redistricting also means that elected officials get reelected even if they don’t fix homelessness, bad schools, high crime or help constituents fix problems, because staying in office became easier once the redistricting removed areas of their district where voters did not think they were doing a proper job representing them. The partisan redistricting in a one-party city, really means that NY will be governed by those loyal to the political class insiders, who’s reelection is not dependent on the needs of the safety and wellbeing of the people who live in their district. Even the new left-wing elected officials put in office by the Working Families Party and the Democrats Socialist of America to change Albany are silent about the undemocratic redistricting disconnecting voters from their government and weaking the public ability to organize against their elected officials.

Last December the Jewish Voice Wrote That the Democratic Redistricting Would Eliminate the Only Republican Congressional District in the City

Jewish Voice 12/11/2021: In 2020, incumbent Democratic Max Rose lost to Republican Nicole Malliotakis 137,198 46.8% to 155,608 53.1% in the Staten Island/Brooklyn congressional district. Rose recently Tweeted: “I’m running for Congress in #NY11 because I can’t sit by while Republicans tear us apart just to hold onto power. The buzz among the insiders who belong to NYC’s political class is that Rose will receive after redistricting a more Democratic leaning district. Looking at the demographics and voting patterns in Southern Brooklyn that just elected the first Republican Assemblywoman, Inna Vernikov, the Albany map makers have their work cut out.

In the current Malliotakis district Trump defeated Biden 55.3 percent to 44.7 — a solid 10.6 percentage point victory. In the new Staten Island district, Biden would have taken about 55% of the vote and Trump 45%. Malliotakis defeated Rose by about 6 percentage points. None of Brooklyn Republican Council member Vernikov district located in Southern Brooklyn, close to Staten Island is in the Democratic drawn Malliotakis district, very liberal Park Slope located in Northern Brooklyn is. There is a feeling that the new districts are being cut by a trained brain surgeon helped by a demographic-voting history Orwellian Big Brother Computer, which was put together well before last week’s deadlocking of the Independent Redistricting Commission.

The Secret 2014 Deal Between the Assembly Democrats, Senate Republican and Cuomo to Cut Out the Independent Redistricting Commission Boomeranged Against the GOP

Leaders in Albany under pressure to support independent redistricting after promising to do so in 2012, created a so call bi-partisan Independent Redistricting Commission that allowed them to remain in control of the redistricting behind the scenes, by picking its members. The Republicans who have been in control of the Senate for all but three years since the 1920’s, assumed that would they be in control of the State Senate in 2022.

The redistricting agreement for a Potemkin Independent Redistricting Commission between the 2014 Albany leaders blew apart when the left-wing anti-IDC candidates defeated seven of the eight Democratic Senators working with the GOP. The Democratic redistricting leaders are now following their former great Tammany Hall leader, George Washington Plunkitt, advice “Saw My Opportunities and Took ’Em.” The resulting partisan redistricting is making Democrats the favorites in redrawn districts currently held by Republicans on Long Island, Staten Island and in Central New York. They would also help tighten the party’s hold on swing seats ahead of what is expected to be a strong Republican election cycle, all while eliminating a fourth Republican seat upstate altogether.

Frank Morano Twitter @frankmorano The problem with NY’s redistricting process from the outset, was that it was bipartisan instead of non-partisan. As long as the two parties maintain a duopoly over political power, the voters will never get a fair shake.

What Happens If NYC Has 100% Democratic Congressional Delegations and the Republicans Take Over the Congress in 22 & the White House in 24?

Although Senate Majority Leader Schumer has taken the pressure off of the mayor, governor, and the MTA to avoid cuts to balance the budgets in 2022, by funneling billion of COVID dollars into the city, nobody in the press is asking questions of what happens if both the house and senate are taken over by the GOP later this year. In 1983 when Reagan was president, Republican U.S. Senator Al D’Amato led the fight to stop the section in the president’s budget which reduced funding for NY’s mass transit.

Deputy Senate Majority Leader Gianaris Railed Against Gerrymandering in 2012 — But Now He’s Leading his Chamber Pushing for It

Sen. Mike Gianaris Twitter @SenGianaris Aug 31, 2011: Gerrymandering throughout the state must be stopped. #keepyourpledge

Gianaris, was against gerrymandering before he was for it, now he is leading the aggressive redistricting. The hypocrite State Senator voted against the 2014 Independent Redistricting Commission, even made a video in 2012 when he was against cutting up communities for political gain. The Democratic senator from Astoria who killed the Amazon Headquarters deal for Long Island City is being called out for a trail of comments he made a decade ago claiming he opposed gerrymandering of legislative maps to benefit a political party — when Republicans were in control of the State Senate. Gianaris now maintains the new lines are far fairer than the congressional boundaries drawn a decade ago by Republicans in the state Senate (a federal special master drew the last Congressional lines in 2012). Gianaris lies that his party did not engage in gerrymandering despite proposing a new congressional map that even the anti-GOP NY Times calls “A ‘Master Class’ in Gerrymandering.” Gianaris’ now legally challenged controversial proposal could cut the number of Republicans in the NY delegation in half, giving Democrats 85% of the congressional districts, despite the party only having 50% of the registered state voters.

The courts have traditionally stayed out of the redistricting battles unless there was clear racial discrimination. Gianaris said his map makers took particular care that the lines give minority communities fair representation. The senator is silent about fair representation for the rest of the city. Republicans are counting on a provision in the 2014 Constitutional Amendment that the Democrats have ignored and the voters passed, which stated “Districts shall not be drawn to discourage competition or for the purpose of favoring or disfavoring incumbents or other particular candidates or political parties.” The Democrats are counting on the press to drop the story in a few days, like they always do and the Democratic picks judges allow them to get away with it. The NY Times reported North Carolina Court Says G.O.P. Political Maps Violate State Constitution, the court said maps of the state’s 14 House districts and state legislative districts violated guarantees of free elections, speech and assembly. Will the NY judges ignore that the Independent Redistricting Commission had 24 public hearings, 630 speakers and 2,100 written submissions? Gianaris, who took over for the commission, had zero public hearings, zero speakers and zero written submissions.

Even the left-leaning think tank Brennan Center for Justice, which focuses on voting rights nationwide against the Republicans, said Democrats took a heavy hand to district drawing in NYS. Michael Li, the organization’s redistricting expert, called the NY maps an “aggressive gerrymander.” Given specific examples of districts that have drawn scrutiny, Gianaris offered a legal claim for each. For District 11, currently held by GOP Rep. Malliotakis, he claims the new lines which add left-leaning Park Slope into the Staten Island conservative district. “Conform to some historical norms for that district.” Gianaris must believe that the Trump voters from Staten Island will feel right at home or have historical ties to the socialist, communist controlled Park Slope Food Co-Op.

Nadler Stays in Boro Park Despite His Lack of Support in the Brooklyn Orthodox Jewish Community

The new 74-year-old Nadler congressional district is still mostly located on the very liberal Westside of Manhattan, from 122^nd Street in Morningside Heights to the Financial District. It is expected by political insiders that during the next ten years, before the next redistricting, a very liberal candidate to the left of Nadler will replace him. Nadler’s district enters Brooklyn through the piers of Red Hook but does not contain any voters there. It then starts it’s Robert Moses inspired neighborhoods cutting Odyssey with a 75 one-block wide arch, following court street and zigzags near Livingston St, then Atlantic Avenue to very left-leaning Prospect Heights. Nadler’s district then goes through Prospect Park to liberal Windsor Terrace, then to Boro Park and finally to the shoreline of Bath Beach.

The Boerum Hill neighborhood within a 4-block radius intersects with 4 different congressional districts, including: Nadler, Jefferies, Velazquez, and Staten Island Malliotakis. Three blocks further Nadler, Jefferies and Clarke divide the Prospect Heights neighborhood. Other neighborhoods that the Nadler district divides, includes Dyker Heights, Bensenhurst and Mapleton. “I’ve been Jerrymandered!” said state Conservative Party Chairman Gerry Kassar, whose Brooklyn home would lie within Nadler’s new district. Even Gianaris supporters in his Greek taverns and diners of Astoria senate district snicker when their senator states redistricting connected communities of interest. They understand that by dividing communities’ politicians gain to easily be reelected. Their Congressional districts have always been known as a joke to the locals. Astoria congressional districts have always been divided, with half of Manhattan and half of the Bronx.

Will Democrats Control the Asian Vote as NYC’s Sleeping Giant Awakens?

The Asian population in NYC jumped by more than 345,000 since 2010 to make up 15.6 percent of the city’s population, according to census data, accounting for more than half of the city’s overall population increase in the past decade. The Democrats are trying to keep control of the Asian vote by using redistricting to add one Asian Assembly and State Senate district in Brooklyn.

Michael Powell Twitter @powellnyt: New York Democrats Crack Apart South and East Asian Neighborhoods in Queens in Incumbent Protection racket. Excellent analysis by @MattThomasNYC

However, the Curtis Silwa’s mayoral campaign strong support in the Asian Communities is a Canary in the Coal Mine warning to the Democrats that their growing vote is up for grabs. Queens Democratic Rep. Grace Meng, the state’s first Asian-American elected to Congress, said the results are a wake-up call for her party. Councilman Kim attributed the Asian voter rage and protest to de Blasio’s push to eliminate gifted and talented programs in schools. It is also clear that the Asian community blames the Democrats’ bail reforms for the increased hate crime violence that is occurring against members of their community and pushing Michelle Go to her death on a subway track.