Colby Hamilton

Point of clarity: The June 26 date so far only affects the federal election (i.e. for Congress). State legislators have to decide if they want to move their primary to June, instead of the September date. Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver warned of the danger of three primaries back in December.

It's a big win for Democratic legislators: Federal Judge Gary Sharpe has ruled the state's primary will be held on June 26. Republicans had argued the case for a date closer to the current September primary, specifically in August.

The decision doesn't affect the state's presidential primary date, which will be on April 24.

With little discussion of why he felt so, Judge Sharpe stated "the court concludes that the fourth Tuesday in June for the non-presidential primary is in the best interest of the State."

He went on to state:

However, this decision by no means precludes New York from reconciling their differences and selecting a different date, so long as the new date fully complies with UOCAVA. The court fully recognizes that a permanent primary date is best left to New York, but has acted as it must to preserve federally protected voting rights.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office had argued on the state's behalf. While not overtly calling for it, Schneiderman--a Democrat--suggested the June date would be better in the last set of documents provided to Sharpe:

The State therefore asks that the Court consider the attached submissions and the previous submissions made on behalf of the ECA, the State Assembly, the State Senate Minority leader, as well as various civic and civil rights groups – each of which sets forth grounds for holding the 2012 primary election in June.

The decision will only put more pressure on the redistricting process, which incumbents and challengers alike need finished to know which districts they'll be running in. The actual ruling is after the jump.

Here's the relative statement from the League released this afternoon:

We expect that the public demand for reform shown over this last year allows for a unique opportunity in time to fundamentally alter the redistricting process in this state. The governor has publicly stated that these lines are unacceptable and he will consider a veto. We agree. The League will work with the governor and the legislature to realize lasting structural reform to this fundamentally flawed redistricting process. The certainty of achieving reform for 2022 is critical.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (Matt Ryan / WMHT)

Federal and state law enforcement officials announced Friday that they have launched a fraud-fighting initiative to root out wrongdoing in the market for residential mortgage-backed securities.

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which was part of the coalition that released the Unity Maps, sent out a review of the new redistricting proposal. While they were happy to see an increase in Asian-majority districts, the statement wasn't without qualification:

SD 16 - Under LATFOR's proposal, there is one Asian American majority State Senate district (52.20% Non-Hispanic Asian voting age population (VAP)), which includes Flushing, Queens. Currently, there are no Asian American majority Senate districts.

"We're glad that LATFOR recognized the importance of creating a majority Asian American Senate district," said AALDEF Executive Director Margaret Fung. "But the contorted district lines of SD 16 split the neighborhood of Flushing. A compact district in Flushing-Bayside should be drawn to keep Asian American communities of interest together in these neighborhoods, as we demonstrated in the Unity Map."

Under LATFOR's proposal, there are three proposed majority Asian American State Assembly districts[.]

...

"As a general matter, we are pleased that LATFOR has increased the number of Asian American majority Assembly districts from one to three," said Jerry Vattamala, staff attorney with AALDEF's Democracy Project. He added that a majority Asian American Assembly district has also been created for the first time in Sunset Park and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

Under the Unity Map, AALDEF proposed four Asian American majority State Assembly districts, with the fourth in the neighborhood of Elmhurst.

"While AD 49 is similar to our Unity Map, the South Asian community of Richmond Hill-South Ozone Park continues to remain divided between multiple State Assembly districts," said Vattamala. "The Unity Map would have kept the Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park neighborhoods substantially together within a single Assembly district."

Many of these groups are going to start releasing their own detailed analysis of the LATFOR lines--as AALDEF says it will--so stay tuned.

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

Senator Mike Nozzolio on the maps.

Senator Mike Gianaris on the maps.

Reporters Kyle Hughes of NYSNYS.com and Rick Karlin of the Albany Times Union on the maps.

And political strategist & University of Albany adjunct professor Bruce Gyory on anything other than the maps.

For show archives, please visit The Capitol Bureau's website here.

This statement was just sent over by Governor Andrew Cuomo's spokesman, Josh Vlasto:

At first glance, these lines are simply unacceptable and would be vetoed by the Governor. We need a better process and product.

NYPIRG's Bill Mahoney has already whipped up an analysis of the new legislative lines. He choose district population variation--the amount each district is from the ideal average based on the total population--as the "yardstick" to measure how representative the districts are. A big concern for gerrymandering is the spread between the districts that are under and over populated.

Packing people (a high positive deviation) into districts in one place can allow you to under populate (a high negative deviation) other districts, allowing for more districts in partisanly-friendly areas--something both the Assembly and Senate have done in the past.

"The typical deviation from the ideal population is one of the few completely objective criteria that can be used," Mahoney writes in an email. "While judging this set of proposed maps by this yardstick, the Senate’s maps are clearly the most gerrymandered lines in recent New York history."

Here's his breakdown on the Senate side:

Senate: Districts 3% or further from ideal population:

1984: 0

1992: 0

2002: 19

2012: 50

He also took a look at how the lines would far based on the 1 percent variation Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed in his independent redistricting legislation last year:

1984: 44 out of 61

1992: 47 out of 61

2002: 11 out of 62

2012: 3 out of 63

On the Assembly side Mahoney notes that, by this measurement, the Assembly districts actually sees things improving slightly since the last redistricting:

Assembly: Districts 3% or further from ideal population:

1984: 15

1992: 49

2002: 70

2012: 67

 

Assembly: Districts within 1% of ideal population:

1984: 92

1992: 46

2002: 18

2012: 26

After months of speculation and weeks of delays, the legislative task force responsible for redrawing all of New York’s state Senate and Assembly districts released maps Thursday afternoon. The new maps include a new 63rd Senate seat near Albany, an Asian-majority senate district and an additional Assembly one both in Queens, and a heavily Orthodox Jewish senate district in Southern Brooklyn.

The wait is over!

Draft maps have been placed on the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment website. A statement from the task force, co-chaired by Republican Senator Michael Nozzolio and Democratic Assemblyman John McEneny, called the plan "fair, legal and protects minority voting interests."

Not surprisingly, Senate Democrats are not taking the lines well.

"This Republican proposal contains none of the criteria reformers sought and none of the reforms the Governor included in his proposed legislation," Senate Minority Leader John Sampson said in a statement "The Republican-proposed districts are not compact, vary widely in population, and divide communities of interest in blatantly political ways."

Former mayor Ed Koch, who saw Senate Republicans renege on their promise of an independent, non-partisan redistricting process, is also blasting the plans.

"No surprise, I am disappointed in this result and in the dishonorable lawmakers who openly pledged to do things differently this year, and then reneged when it wasn't to their political advantage. What a shame: this is not reform in letter or in spirit," Koch said in a statement. "Today, victory lies with the Enemies of Reform."

He called on Governor Cuomo to keep his promise of vetoing maps that were not independently drawn an overtly partisan.

Governor Cuomo ran for office pledging to reform the way our state works, and to date, he's kept his word," Koch said. "Just this afternoon the Governor said his position has not changed, which I applaud him for, and I have every confidence he will keep his word to the people of New York and veto the proposed maps."

The images for the Senate districts are below. The Assembly districts are after the jump:

New York City's proposed Senate lines ( )

Long Island's proposed Senate lines ( )

Upstate New York's proposed Senate lines ( )

[caption id="attachment_13468" align="center" width="620" caption="New York City's proposed Assembly lines" credit=" "]

Assemblymembers were given their maps late last night (fellow Queens Assemblymember Grace Meng shared hers already). Former congressional candidate Assemblyman David Weprin is not happy about his.

The new 24th Assembly District lines in Queens would make a minority-majority district that stretches across the borough. The district would be an Asian-influenced district, with about 33 percent of the district being voting-age Asian. The white--and presumably heavily Jewish population that the current district now accommodates--is 26 percent of the voting age population.

Here's Weprin's statement in his letter to LATFOR:

Following the publication of the draft re-districting maps, I want to state my opposition to the changes made to the 24th Assembly district.  While I thank LATFOR for its work on redistricting, our goal must be to ensure that the proposed maps reflect lines that represent a fair and independent process and keep communities of interest together.

Northeast Queens is a special and distinct geographic region, whose residents and community leaders have voiced their desire to be kept together in a contiguous district, rather than be divided. I look forward to offering testimony as part of LATFOR’s public review process and for my constituents to do likewise in order to end with a map that truly represents the unique character of Northeast Queens.

Do we have new State Senate and Assembly (oh yeah, AND Congresional) maps yet? No.

But at least you can clear your schedule to deride/applaud them since we have the schedule now for the next round of LATFOR hearings. There are nine hearing scheduled with the first happening on Monday in Albany (which we reported yesterday) and the last in Buffalo on February 16.

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

Rural and western NY are getting hit by statewide shortage of doctors. Sherry Chorost, Director of Work Force and Regulatory Affairs at the Healthcare Association of New York will tell us how this is affecting residents, and why this is happening now.

Redistricting maps aren’t out yet. Perhaps they won’t be released publically until after the Governor’s noon press conference; regardless, we will analyze a few of the reported changes with former Assemblyman Michael Benjamin.

Then, we focus on education: First, the Buffalo News’ Education Reporter Mary Pasciak on how the Governor’s proposals around education are being viewed in the city.

And a discussion about education reform with both Buffalo City Schools Interim Superintendent Amber Dixon, and former President of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities & principle at Praxis Insights, Abe Lackman. Lackman is also a former Secretary of the New York State Senate Finance Committee; he played a central role in shaping the state’s education aid formula.

For show archives, please visit The Capitol Bureau's website here.

Governor Andrew Cuomo can't get high enough. At least not with votes.

Which is to say: according to a new NY1/YNN-Marist poll, 58 percent of New Yokers surveyed approve of the job the Governor's doing. This is up from 55 percent in the previous NY1/YNN-Marist.

New Yorker's are also feeling better about the direction the state's headed in. For the first time in nearly a decade, a majority of voters--52 percent--feel the state is moving in the right direction. The last time this was the case? 2002.

“This represents a dramatic shift in public sentiment after a decade of frustration,” said Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, in a statement. “Positive reaction to Governor Cuomo is influencing how voters feel about the future of New York.”

Other highlights from the poll:

• 65 percent of registered voters in New York approve of how Governor Andrew Cuomo is handling the state’s budget
• Half of those polled now support allowing non-Indian gambling in New York, down from 60 percent in November
• The State Senate's approval numbers are up 7 points to 19 percent last November
• The Assembly also saw a bump, but smaller: 24 percent approve, up 4 points from before

The survey of 681 New York State adults was conducted on January 18th and 19th, with a margin of plus or minus of 4 percentage points. There were 554 registered voters in the pool, their subset having a margin of plus or minus 4.5 percent.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (Matt Ryan / WMHT)

Details of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's mortgage fraud unit appointment announced last night by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address have begun to emerge.

The new unit that the AG will co-chair with senior officials in the IRS, SEC, and Department of Justice--will be charged with holding lawbreaking institutions accountable, provide relief and compensation to homeowners, and help close the book on the mortgage crisis.

The unit will be coordinated with DoJ's ongoing efforts, as well as state and local enforcement.

An official announcement on Schneiderman's appointment, held with US Attorney General Eric Holder, is rumored to be happening soon.

Democratic State Senator Martin Malavé Dilan just posted a note to his legislative website:

LATFOR just posted official notice of a public hearing on Monday, January 30 in Albany.

According to the official transcript of LATFOR's Tuesday, January 10 public meeting (Pg. 25, Line 3): “…those of you who are looking for maps, it has been long been the custom that no less than seven days notice would be given and with that notice would be the maps.”

If you do the math on that, as the Senator is suggesting, we have far less than a week until the next hearing which, it would seem, is seeking input on legislative districts. But the LATFOR website still has yet to publish new maps.

The good news would seem to be that, at the very latest, LATFOR's going to have to get maps out by 10:30 am next Monday if the public's going to comment on them.

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

If the Times Union’s (Jimmy Vielkind) mapping skills are what I think they are, my house will fall within the new 63rd Senate district which looks like a dancing hippo – a thin dancing hippo who recently dropped some weight because he dances. I will speak to a few of my neighbors who wanted to weigh in on being “redistricted”.

Currently Democrat Neil Breslin represents the area. Is he concerned? Will he file a lawsuit? Breslin and good government guru Susan Lerner of Common Cause share their thoughts on the issue.

We check in with Republican Senator Joseph Griffo.

This year, to be poor in New York is to feel as if a long-awaited dinner was snatched away from you at the last minute. The Governor has proposed to delay a promised increase in the basic welfare grant for families. Ron Deutsch of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness and Mark Dunlea of the Hunger Action Network of New York weigh in on being “riled up”.

For show archives, please visit The Capitol Bureau's website here.

Courtesy of WGRZ.

Jimmy Vielkind used Common Cause's map making software to come up with a version of the new district. (Jimmy Vielkind / Times Union)

Ever since the rumor that the Senate Republican planned to create a new, 63rd Senate district in in the soon-to-be-released redistricting maps, there have been new rumors flying about where it could be. At least one of those rumors appears to be true: Times-Union’s Jimmy Vielkind reported today that sources tell him the district will be located in the Capital Region, stretching from west to south of Albany (see picture insert). The district is likely created to help Republican Assemblyman George Amedore get elected to the Senate, helping the Republicans keep their majority.

The news, if it holds up (and there’s good reason to believe this is what we’ll see when maps likely become available either late today or tomorrow), raises three important issues.

Courtesy of the comptroller's office/Paul Brumlik

Thank you Chairmen Farrell and DeFrancisco, and all the members of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee for this opportunity to speak today regarding the Governor’s Executive Budget proposal and the impact it will have on New York City’s finances.  I am joined here today by Jonathan Rosenberg, Executive Director for Budget at the New York City Comptroller’s Office.

At this time last year you were struggling to find ways to close a $10 billion budget gap.   To close such a large gap without doing irreparable harm to the citizens of our great state who rely on many state services for their health and well being was a significant undertaking. By reining in spending, the Governor and the legislature were able to correct the structural imbalance that had plagued New York State’s budget in previous years. You are to be commended.

A year ago I testified before you that New York City residents were more than willing to bear their share of the financial burden in order to right the State’s budgetary ship.  But I also noted that New York City residents should be treated equitably in comparison to our fellow state residents.  

Courtesy of the mayors office

“Good morning. I want to thank our committee chairmen, Denny Farrell and John DeFrancisco; the ranking minority members of the committees holding this hearing, Assemblyman Robert Oaks and Senator Liz Krueger; and all the members of both the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee for this opportunity to testify today.

“Seated with me this morning are Mark Page, the City’s Director of Management and Budget, and Micah Lasher, our Director of State Legislative Affairs.

“I’ve come to Albany this morning to express my strong support for many elements of Governor Cuomo’s executive budget and reform plan for 2012 and 2013, to indicate where and how the Legislature can improve that budget and plan and to present elements of the City’s own legislative agenda for this session.