REAPPORTIONMENT

On Monday, the State Legislature voted to reject the Congressional maps from the Independent Redistricting Commission that passed by a 9 to 1 vote the previous week. See our press release here. On Wednesday, the Legislature voted to approve and the Governor signed legislation establishing new Congressional lines that, with few exceptions, were identical to what was rejected on Monday. Which in turn, was very similar to what existed in 2022. The 2022 lines were created by a court-ordered special master after the lines produced by the Legislature in 2022 were thrown out after being declared by a court to be a partisan gerrymander.

My takeaway is that millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted by Democratic legislative leaders who had trouble coming to grips with Congressional maps that were fair and equitable. Stops and starts produced by their legislative henchmen eventually fell victim to the threat of new lawsuits and delays that could ultimately hurt Democratic efforts.

The final maps, although violating the national 2% (they went in some cases as high as 6%) standard in legislative adjustments when reviewing Independent Commission-produced maps essentially were the same as the maps that were used in 2022.  There are many solid GOP/Conservative districts as well as several fair fight districts currently held by members of both parties.

The Democratic leadership was searching for ways to explain the outcome, in as much as they looked petty and small-minded as they worked against community interests until it became apparent that they were going to find themselves in court once again.

As an aside, when all else fails, Albany Democrats look to fix the courts by restricting reapportionment and political litigation to only heavily dominated Democratic courts in the state. That is exactly what the Democrats in the Legislature are working to accomplish with the Democratic Governor a willing ally.  Boss Tweed could learn a lesson or two from the current crop of Democratic Party leadership.

PRESIDENT TRUMP RECEIVES PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE STATUS

The New York State Conservative Party’s Executive Committee declared Donald Trump the presumptive nominee of the Party after 20 counties holding 56% of the Party’s weighted vote officially came out in support of the former President. The rest of the counties are expected to follow with the State Convention set by state law to be held in August.

The first county committee to endorse Trump in late 2023 was Richmond County. Last week, Erie County put Mr. Trump over 50% and with the recent endorsement of Kings County, the number reached 56%. The full list of the counties, in no order, that have to date endorsed Trump are: Broome, Dutchess, Greene, Onondaga, Orange, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, Warren, Wayne, Bronx, Richmond, St Lawrence, Suffolk, Queens, Oswego, Erie, Westchester, Kings, Schenectady.

See our full press release here: