When It Comes To A Deal There Is No Law (Part 2 of 2)
By Dan McCue for the Courthouse News Service
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/08/02/38655.htm
In fact, the commission vote in favor of the map was 13-2, with more Democrats voting for the preliminary map that against it. The map would next be reviewed by Judge Spatt, subjected to a public comment period, reviewed by the outgoing board of supervisors, and then put up for the aforementioned public vote.
But my neighbor's good intentions aside, politics would weigh very heavily on the weeks that followed, when input from the public was supposed to lead to tweaks to the lines.
And Sabbath wasn't the only one to be aggrieved. Commission member Neal Lewis, the independent, quickly unveiled his own map that sought to encompass a broader definition of "minority" to include Asians, women and other interest group. Radically different from any of the other alternatives considered, it was quickly cast aside from the commission.
In the meantime, I had gotten to know the team of Democratic and Republican demographers working on the project, and the story they told about the drawing of district lines was markedly different from that promulgated by the commission.
No matter how the 19 districts were drawn, simple demographics would ensure certain districts would be safe Republican or Democratic strongholds. What was really up for grabs was the fate of the so-called "fair fight districts", and that is where the process became very interesting.
The reason is a subtle shift that had been occurring in elections below the county level in the years leading up to the creation of the legislative districts. Despite the edge the Republicans had in voter registration, Democrats, led by a Republican-turned Democrat candidate for town supervisor named Ben Zwirn, had swept into office in the Town of North Hempstead, and another Democratic, Lew Yevoli, had won the supervisorship in the Town of Oyster Bay.
At the same time, two other members of the Board of Supervisors, Bruce Nyman of Long Beach and Tom Suozzi of Glen Cove, were also Democrats.
With that as context, there was a tremendous amount at stake for both political parties as demographers entered each proposed district's borders into their computer programs.
Once the minority district question was settled - incidentally creating a Democratic minority district and a Republican minority district - a lot of tweaking was done with eye toward the legislative races to come.
The new county legislature would open up opportunities for advance for members of both parties who had gone as far as they could either in local government or in their local party committee, and many were not shy about declaring their intention to run - long before the ink was dry on even the earliest versions of the district map - and leaning on their respective party leaders to have things come out their way.
Well, let me clarify, the Democrats were rumbling in the ranks, being the more boisterous of the two local parties. The Republicans, on the other hand, mainly quietly expressed their interest, fearing that to say or do more would alienate then- Republican Chairman Joe Mondello, who ran the party with an iron will.
(In short, if you wanted to have any future in Republican politics, he told you, you didn't tell him. That said, some of Mondello's preferences where known fairly early on.)
One afternoon as I went to pick up copies of the latest districts maps, I fell into a conversation with the handful of people working in the Charter Revision Commission's office that day.
Compared to recent days, the mood was relaxed and the conversation strayed from demographics to politics, and the game of matching names of prospective candidates to districts.
What was clear is that each party - and quite understandably - wanted to ensure that no significant competition be drawn into a district where one of the respective favorites lived - if such a situation could possibly be helped.
"In some cases, it's relatively easy," one of the staffers told me.
"Barbara [a prominent Democrat] lives here, and Mike [a rising star n the local Republican party] lives over there, and their homes are far enough apart that you can easily place them in different districts without upsetting the populations of each district that we're striving for," another staff chimed in.
"Where it gets tough is when they live in same neighborhood or close to it," the first staffer continued.
What do you do then? I asked.
"Well that's when you get out the phone book, verify the address, and see if you can inch the district line over to put a border between them," one of the staffers said.
"You can do that?" I said, trying to seem as wide-eyed as I possibly could.
"So long as you move another part of the line to even out the district populations again," somebody said.
I must have looked surprised during the pregnant pause that followed.
Finally, the first staffer smiled and shrugged.
"When it comes to a deal, there is no law," he said. "Remember, the court-mandates have been met, but getting the approval of the parties, the sitting leaders and the public... that's a process outside of what any court can do."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/08/02/38655.htm
In fact, the commission vote in favor of the map was 13-2, with more Democrats voting for the preliminary map that against it. The map would next be reviewed by Judge Spatt, subjected to a public comment period, reviewed by the outgoing board of supervisors, and then put up for the aforementioned public vote.
But my neighbor's good intentions aside, politics would weigh very heavily on the weeks that followed, when input from the public was supposed to lead to tweaks to the lines.
And Sabbath wasn't the only one to be aggrieved. Commission member Neal Lewis, the independent, quickly unveiled his own map that sought to encompass a broader definition of "minority" to include Asians, women and other interest group. Radically different from any of the other alternatives considered, it was quickly cast aside from the commission.
In the meantime, I had gotten to know the team of Democratic and Republican demographers working on the project, and the story they told about the drawing of district lines was markedly different from that promulgated by the commission.
No matter how the 19 districts were drawn, simple demographics would ensure certain districts would be safe Republican or Democratic strongholds. What was really up for grabs was the fate of the so-called "fair fight districts", and that is where the process became very interesting.
The reason is a subtle shift that had been occurring in elections below the county level in the years leading up to the creation of the legislative districts. Despite the edge the Republicans had in voter registration, Democrats, led by a Republican-turned Democrat candidate for town supervisor named Ben Zwirn, had swept into office in the Town of North Hempstead, and another Democratic, Lew Yevoli, had won the supervisorship in the Town of Oyster Bay.
At the same time, two other members of the Board of Supervisors, Bruce Nyman of Long Beach and Tom Suozzi of Glen Cove, were also Democrats.
With that as context, there was a tremendous amount at stake for both political parties as demographers entered each proposed district's borders into their computer programs.
Once the minority district question was settled - incidentally creating a Democratic minority district and a Republican minority district - a lot of tweaking was done with eye toward the legislative races to come.
The new county legislature would open up opportunities for advance for members of both parties who had gone as far as they could either in local government or in their local party committee, and many were not shy about declaring their intention to run - long before the ink was dry on even the earliest versions of the district map - and leaning on their respective party leaders to have things come out their way.
Well, let me clarify, the Democrats were rumbling in the ranks, being the more boisterous of the two local parties. The Republicans, on the other hand, mainly quietly expressed their interest, fearing that to say or do more would alienate then- Republican Chairman Joe Mondello, who ran the party with an iron will.
(In short, if you wanted to have any future in Republican politics, he told you, you didn't tell him. That said, some of Mondello's preferences where known fairly early on.)
One afternoon as I went to pick up copies of the latest districts maps, I fell into a conversation with the handful of people working in the Charter Revision Commission's office that day.
Compared to recent days, the mood was relaxed and the conversation strayed from demographics to politics, and the game of matching names of prospective candidates to districts.
What was clear is that each party - and quite understandably - wanted to ensure that no significant competition be drawn into a district where one of the respective favorites lived - if such a situation could possibly be helped.
"In some cases, it's relatively easy," one of the staffers told me.
"Barbara [a prominent Democrat] lives here, and Mike [a rising star n the local Republican party] lives over there, and their homes are far enough apart that you can easily place them in different districts without upsetting the populations of each district that we're striving for," another staff chimed in.
"Where it gets tough is when they live in same neighborhood or close to it," the first staffer continued.
What do you do then? I asked.
"Well that's when you get out the phone book, verify the address, and see if you can inch the district line over to put a border between them," one of the staffers said.
"You can do that?" I said, trying to seem as wide-eyed as I possibly could.
"So long as you move another part of the line to even out the district populations again," somebody said.
I must have looked surprised during the pregnant pause that followed.
Finally, the first staffer smiled and shrugged.
"When it comes to a deal, there is no law," he said. "Remember, the court-mandates have been met, but getting the approval of the parties, the sitting leaders and the public... that's a process outside of what any court can do."
