Contact:
COMMON CAUSE/NY ESSENTIAL NY NEW YORK PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP	Susan Lerner 917 670-5670 Jesse Laymon 646 530-0378 Blair Horner 518-436-0876

NEWS RELEASE

For immediate release:
Monday, June 23, 2014

CIVIC GROUPS RELEASE NEW REPORT ON THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF THE 2012 REDISTRICTING DEAL

URGE VOTERS TO REJECT REDISTRICTING “REFORM” QUESTION ON NOVEMBER’S BALLOT

ANNOUNCE “SALVADOR DALI/PABLO PICASSO AWARD” FOR THE MOST ARTISTICALLY DRAWN LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

(Albany, N.Y.) New York State’s process for drawing district lines undermines the democratic principle of “one person, one vote” by allowing legislative districts that vary substantially in size, according to a report released today by a coalition of civic groups.  The bedrock principle of “one person, one vote” holds that all Americans should have equal influence in electing their representatives.  The groups argued that New York State allows “gerrymandered” districts with vast disparities in population size that, while technically legal, undermine democratic principles. 

The report, Can The Plan: How The 2012 Redistricting Deal Denies New Yorkers Fair Representation And The Fundamentally Flawed Redistricting “Reform,” examined the populations of Assembly and Senate districts.  The report’s key findings include:

• Only 29 of 213  legislative districts (14 percent) are within one percent of the “ideal size.”  In the Senate, district populations vary in population by over 27,000 people between the most and least populous districts, in the Assembly by over 10,000. 


• Senate District 34, “The Splattered Bug of the Bronx,” was identified as the “Pablo Picasso/Salvador Dali” award “winner for the most artistically drawn legislative district, violated the most basic definition of “compact.”  Runners up were districts: SD 60, “The Buffalo Bender”;  AD 13, “The LI Lobster Claw”; SD 3, “The LI Crocodile”; AD 101, “The Leftover Lightning Bolt.”
  
  
• Other states have population differences that would be a huge improvement if enacted in New York.  The state of Illinois has no population deviation at all.  The states of California, Washington and Wisconsin have population differences of less than 1% of the average.  Congressional districts, including those in New York, have nearly equal populations.
   
• The resulting unfairness in redistricting – coupled with an equally unfair campaign finance system – has created incumbency protection.  Only 55 incumbents have lost in the general elections held over the past thirty years.
  
  
• The proposed constitutional amendment to change New York’s redistricting process will do nothing to reform the problem of unequal representation.  Moreover, its other changes and its supposed “independent” commission will do little to improve New York’s redistricting process.

• State taxpayers continue to foot the bill of $1.8 million this year for the Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment (LATFOR), a partisan-directed entity that is called upon to do its work for a brief period once every decade.  In contrast to other states whose commissions operate only during redistricting periods, New York pays for a full time, year-in-year-out body staffed by political operatives of the legislative majorities, whose on-going work product is not available to the public.

The groups argued that New Yorkers should reject the constitutional amendment to change the redistricting process that is up for a vote this November.

The report is available at: www.nypirg.org.

STATEMENTS FROM GROUPS:

"It's past time for New York's political bosses to be drawing Gerrymandered districts worthy of Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali and time to demand masterpieces of one person-one vote Democracy," said Blair Horner, Legislative Director of NYPIRG.  “While it may be fun to choose the most artistically-drawn district, the impact is wrenching: New Yorkers are denied real elections.  The 2012 redistricting deal was a bad one for all New Yorkers, the upcoming ballot question should be canned.  Instead, the governor and lawmakers should go back to the drawing board and come up with real reforms in time for the next round of redistricting.”

"These maps were designed to disempower voters and guarantee the re-election of the coalition that drew them. Canning this plan is the only real path to progress in our state. The defeat of the redistricting amendment is a major priority for a growing number of New Yorkers across the state. People understand how bad it is, and they want real reform, not more of the same Albany antics,” said Jesse Laymon, Executive Director of EffectiveNY, a statewide progressive good government organization.

"The 2012 redistricting process was a disaster, with politicians picking their voters rather than the other way around. Yet the proposed ‘reform’ is a scam which does nothing to change that. It allows politicians to manipulate elections and thwart the will of the voters. New Yorkers deserve a fair and impartial redistricting process," said Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY.

Read the full report | www.nypirg.org