Share This On FacebookEDITORIAL: Dutchess darkness
Published: Tuesday, December 14, 2010
It’s not unusual for thieves to practice their craft in the dead of night, the better to get away with it.
Presumably, this explains the timing of Republican members of the Dutchess County Legislature, who voted at 1:45 a.m. Dec. 8 to take back control of the process for drawing new election district lines.
Republicans argued that allowing a citizen commission to draft the lines of county legislative districts under a 2009 local law somehow would turn redistricting into “a partisan political thing,” as Legislator Michael Kelsey, R-Pleasant Valley, put it.
Somehow, they argued, putting themselves in charge of redrawing the lines for themselves would be the more responsible thing to do.
To put it bluntly, they’re lying. There is nothing about drawing political lines for yourself that serves the public interest. It is self-serving, pure and simple.
“Self-interested behavior is present when people’s careers, lives and status are at stake,” Benjamin said. “Not only is that the case, but people believe that’s the case, so it brings a level of cynicism to the process.”
“To argue that (citizens) commissions are partisan is absurd,” he said.
Benjamin is in a position to know. Not only did he help author the Ulster County Charter, which includes a provision for a citizens redistricting commission, but he also is a former Republican chairman of the Ulster County Legislature.
The matter now is in the hands of Dutchess County Executive William Steinhaus, who must hold a public hearing before acting on it.
Steinhaus, who has run for office all of his adult life in countywide elections that know no gerrymandering, should veto the repeal of the law and put redistricting back in the hands of a citizens commission.
We will see if Exec. Steinhaus Chooses HIS voters also if he decides not to veto this Gerrymandering.
The failure to delegate the nuts and bolts of the redistricting process, Benjamin said, “diminishes public confidence and responsibility for the Legislature and representative form of government.”
Gerald Benjamin, a SUNY New Paltz professor, notes that citizen commissions help keep the redistricting process honest, even if the legislative body ultimately must approve any plan.
This doesn’t meet the laugh test.
The vote came after six and a half hours of wrangling before a final vote on the 2011 Dutchess County budget.
Town of Poughkeepsie Democrats
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Will the County Executive William Steinhaus Veto this travesty? The Public and the Poughkeepsie Journal will never know. Why is it the Republican Party chooses to pick their Voters and draw Legislative Districts to reflect their best interests? A sad state of affairs in my opinion.