State Senator Malcolm Smith in a candid moment at the Democratic Rural Conference:
“With the Democrats in control of the State Senate, we are going to draw the lines so that Republicans will be in oblivion in the state of New York for the next 20 years.”
Brilliant. Thank you, Senator Smith, for reminding us all what the object of the game in Albany is, Democrat and Republican alike: Clinging to your tenuous position of power atop a putrid heap of corruption. After all, this is New York State, home to a fabulous bestiary of deformed electoral districts that would have turned Elbridge Gerry's hair white, including the notorious NY-51, also known as "Abraham Lincoln riding a vacuum cleaner."
The senator went on to claim, in a statement that stretches the bounds of credulity, that the rot at the heart of Albany is solely a Republican creation:
As for those—like Ed Koch and his compatriots in New York Uprising or lieutenant governor candidate Bill Samuels—who say that the lack of independent redistricting is at the root of Albany dysfunction, Smith said they were wrong.
“That’s not true,” he said. “The reason why it’s dysfunctional is because the Republicans were in charge for 43 years, spending money out of control, taking care of their personal friends, wasn’t doing the business of the state. Now we’re trying to clean up their mess.”
Former NYC mayor Ed Koch, who has been fighting hard for independent redistricting, is rolling his eyes at Smith's triumphant yawp:
“It was a dumb statement. He will regret it ... Gerrymandering is bad for Democrats and Republicans, in my judgment. The second part of his statement happens to be correct, which is that in effect, New York State is now overwhelmingly Democratic in political persuasion. But even if it weren’t, gerrymandering is unconscionable.”
Koch is right. It is high time we put someone else, besides whoever has the reins in Albany, in charge of redrawing New York's electoral districts. Mathematicians. The United Nations. The New York Knicks. A troupe of brain-damaged circus seals. Anyone who can "put an end to the travesty of politicians choosing their voters instead of the other way around."
