NYP Redistricting Not Enough

Stalin Only Candidate in 1937 Soviet Union Election

New York's Soviet Style Elections

Today's NYP hit the nail on the head on calling NY's election system corrupt and undemocratic.  The editorial blasted the dictatorial powers of county leaders to control ballot access not only in the special elections which are going on this year but in all elections.  They also took a shot at Cuomo for calling the special elections during the July 4 weekend which made it harder for a none county leader back candidate to collect 3500 by July 11, let alone survive challenges by party election lawyers steeped in the arcane regulations that are meant precisely to keep insurgents off the ballot. The NYP said NY has the nation's most restrictive ballot-access laws -- permitting entrenched political power-brokers to anoint their favorites and bar anti-organization challengers. No reform here(NYP) * The DN also pans Weprin for being selected by the “bosses” and not the “people.”

NYP: Political Bosses and Goo-Goos Groups Don't Want NY's Ballot-Access Laws to Change

 Independent Redistricting Does Not Matter Without Ballot Access Reforms

"From the peoples' perspective, the size, shape and demographic texture of a legislative or congressional district are irrelevant -- so long as it's virtually impossible for anyone other than the bosses' choice to get on a ballot in the first place. . .    And nobody -- not Cuomo, not the so-called good-government groups and most especially not the political bosses -- wants that to change." (NYP)

NYTimes Says for fair independent redistricting @NYGovCuomo should act now

The NY Times calls on Cuomo to ready his own redistricting maps, says “word on the street” is LATFOR will delay release of new lines until next year, arguing it’s too late for an alternative plan. * Nationally, the GOP is using state-level redistricting to try to shore up its House majority.  

 

Will Ackerman's Boat Remain Afloat

As Redistricting Looms, Legislators Face Anxiety, or Even Extinction(NYT) Rep. Ackerman: "Weiner option" solves downstate, Dem redistricting problem...shifts focus upstate to axe GOP seat. (Good for him, too).Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle is “seeing the writing on the wall” about her district being eliminated in 2012, and is reaching out, ramping up her fundraising in hopes of saving herself. Democrats think they can defeat her the old-fashioned way – at the ballot box.

As Legislators In Albany Design District to Reelect Easily Reelect Them . . .  Good Government Group Look the Other Way

Where are the Good Government Lawsuits?
Support for independent redistricting among New York state voters has risen to 52 percent, 64 percent of voters support casino gambling, and voters split 44 percent for and 45 percent against hydrofracking, a new Quinnipiac University poll *  Q-Poll: Support For Independent Redistricting Passes 50 Percent (YNN)