RSS 2.0 FeedSeptember 1, 2011, Freeport-Baldwin Leader
Court of Appeals: Preserve county districts
Will you be in a new legislative area?
After months of legal wrangling, the Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled to keep Nassau County legislative districts in place until 2013. This will give a nonpartisan commission time to study the redrawing of county legislative districts as proposed by the Republican majority in the Nassau County legislature.
This reverses an earlier decision made on August 11 by the New York State Appellate Division which upheld the Republican GOP plan to redistrict Nassau County.
The Republican plan would have merged two Democratic districts, split up the Five Towns as well as Legislative District Three in Hempstead Village and created a new 19th District on the western border of Nassau County. No Republican legislators would have been forced out of their districts. Approximately 540,000 people would have been moved out of their legislative district.
The plan would have split Merrick and Bellmore into two separate legislative districts, forcing county Legislator David Denenberg into the Fifth Legislative District where he would have faced off against fellow Democrat Joseph Scanell in a primary election.
“The Court of Appeals 7-0 decision substantiates what I have been saying all along,” said Legislator Denenberg. “The Republican legislative majority and the county executive tried to redistrict this year illegally and in total disregard of the bipartisan process established in the county’s charter. That process takes place every 10 years which was in 2003, and will be next in 2013. Unfortunately, this naked power grab cost the taxpayers over $2 million at a time whem Republican rule is once again bankrupting the county,” said Legislator Denenberg.
But Republican Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt and county Attorney John Ciampoli have said the move was not only legal but necessary. They stated that the county is obligated by its charter to redraw legislative districts within six months of the release of the U.S. Census data.
“The Census indicates there has been a population shift of 22.7% and was in violation of the Constitution. We must protect the one-man, one-vote [principle]. We must balance the districts,” stated Mr. Ciampoli at a public hearing held in May.
A spokesperson for Presiding Officer Peter J. Schmitt issued the following statement:
“I am pleased that a definitive decision has been rendered by the court. We have always maintained that there were conflicts in the County Charter by having two conflicting processes. The court upheld that we followed the guidelines correctly and ruled that the actual redistricting should be used in 2013. This puts an end to the inequities in the County Charter and we can move ahead to other matters.”
