New York Republicans moving to add another seat

NYdailynews.com


 Republicans, at least the ones controlling the New York State Senate, have decided that bigger is better.
Senate leadership officials, in a memo posted on the Legislature’s re-districting website late Friday afternoon, confirmed plans to add another seat to the 62-member chamber, arguing that its creation is needed to satisfy state law.
“The memo speaks for itself,” said Scott Reif, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau County).



The memo was written by Senate GOP lawyer Michael Carvin and argued that the methodology used during the 2002 district reapportionment, when applied to the current population, calls for the addition of a new seat.
“I continue to believe that this methodology is the most faithful to the Constitution,” Carvin wrote.
“I note that if the 2002 methodology is again employed, the size of the New York State Senate will be increased to 63 senators.”
Reif said that no decisions have been made about where the new district will be located. Final maps for new Senate districts will be available by the end of the month, he added.
The Daily News first reported in September that Senate Republicans were mulling the addition of a new seat. At the time, Reif dismissed the report as “pure speculation.”
Democrats and good government groups have slammed the Republicans, arguing that there’s no legal justification for adding a new seat and that the move was likely designed to gain political advantage.
“As the calculations have been done for us, any way we look at it, it comes to 62,” said Susan Lerner of the advocacy group New York Common Cause, a nonpartisan citizens’ lobby. “They don't get to just decide to have 63.”
The Senate’s move is all-but certain to spark a court battle and could draw fire from Gov. Cuomo, who in his State of the State address Wednesday promised to veto any district lines that are not created through “an independent redistricting process.”
Insiders note that adding a 63rd seat to the state Senate could make it easier for the GOP to retain its razor-thin majority in upcoming elections and avoid potential legislative chaos by ensuring that one party would be in the majority.
Currently, with an even number of seats, there is the possibility of a 31-to-31 member split, which would produce legislative gridlock. The Republicans now have 32 seats, one more than the Democrats.
State lawmakers are redrawing their districts — and the state’s congressional districts — as part of a U.S. census-mandated re-configuration.