The art of rigging election districts - Creating new election districts is an odd mix of political science and abstract drawing

Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY)
May 21, 2006

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the U-Pick-M Ballot Gallery, the hub of New York's famed art-politico movement.

On your right, behold "Fido on His Leash," the 130-mile-long trail of towns and chopped-up cities that comprises the state Senate's 49th District.
On the left hangs "Yo! Bullwinkle!," the weird contours of the Senate's 43rd District resembling a moose looking over its shoulder.

Beside it hangs the five-county silhouette of the Assembly's 123rd District. We call it "Skate, Snoopy, Skate!" which is exactly what Republicans do on Election Day, thanks to all the GOP ballots stuffed in the snout.

Along these walls hang the stovepipes, spleens and Rorschach ink blots of modern politics. Long ago, they replaced the dull, block-shaped election districts that lumped voters together merely because they live nearby. This is the art of maintaining power, which is the ultimate canvas for painting by-the-numbers.

"It's the system where the lawmakers get to choose their voters, before the voters get to choose their lawmakers," says Rachel Leon, director of New York State Common Cause.

Since 1812, when Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry scuttled the Federalist Party by creating a district shaped like a salamander - "the Gerrymander" - critics have decried the practice of drawing election lines for partisan gain. But it hasn't gone away. Every 10 years, population shifts found by the U.S. Census force state and federal governments to redraw their election districts. That's when the fun begins.

With super databases, parties today can surgically build a district, block by block, creating a Democratic or Republican safe house. It works for both state lawmakers and members of Congress.

In 2004, Texas became the poster state for gerrymandering, after GOP redistricting deleted five Democratic seats in Congress. That, indirectly, led to last year's indictment of Republican Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay, whose trial should begin this year.

But Texas has nothing on New York, where only 34 incumbents have been voted out of state office since 1982.

In fact, despite a hot presidential election and a 2 million voter statewide advantage, Democrats in 2004 didn't even challenge U.S. Rep. James Walsh, R-Onondaga, in the newly drawn 25th District. Only four incumbents lost state legislative seats, and the only one in this area, Sen. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann, basically succumbed in the 49th District - a/k/a "Fido" - because of GOP infighting.

With Election Day six months away, it's time to reflect upon New York's most bizarre-looking districts, and the political inspirations behind them.

"Yo! Bullwinkle!' (Senate 43rd): This GOP fortress for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno includes a moose's head - Saratoga Springs - and leads to antlers that rise high into the Adirondacks. Across the moose - er, district - Republicans enjoy a 22,000-voter advantage over Democrats.

Not that the antlers or even the body mattered in 2004. Bruno ran unopposed.

"Oops, I Spilled the Coffee!" (Senate 34th): The New York Public Interest Research Group, or NYPIRG, last year gave this squashed bug of a district the "Salvador Dali/Pablo Picasso Award" for most abstract design.

The area, located in the Bronx and Westchester, holds twice as many enrolled Democrats than Republicans. In the 2004 election, Democrat Sen. Jeff Klein won by 12,000 votes.

Critics say the GOP-controlled Senate built this district as a classic example of "packing," confining the Democrats into one area, so others can go Republican.

"Skate, Snoopy, Skate!" (Assembly 123rd): Look closely, and the world's most beloved cartoon beagle can be seen breezing across this five-county area, his snout touching the Chenango County town of Columbus, while his scarf flies up to the city of Auburn.

This district houses Assemblyman Gary D. Finch (R-C, Springport), whose Republican Party enjoys an 11,000-voter advantage over Democrats.

Assembly Democrats packed this district with GOP-enrolled voters, allowing them to save money and energy on other races - yet another benefit of gerrymandering, as far as the parties are concerned.

"Honest Abe with a Vacuum Cleaner" (Senate 51st): NYPIRG named this giant historical lithograph as runner-up for its Dali-Picasso award.

One can make out Abraham Lincoln's signature top hat and beard, drawn in the western borders to Otsego and Herkimer counties. But it's hard to fathom the forces that conceived the long east-west pipe that connects the Catskills with the outskirts of Ithaca.

The result: Republicans enjoy a 30,000-voter advantage over Democrats in enrollments.

In 2004, Republican Sen. James Seward ran unopposed.

"Packed & Stacked" (Assembly 115th): This district inspired Mick Mather, a Central New York-based artist, to turn it into a digital collage.

"I studied each district map - often turning them over, under, sideways, down - until the abstract shapes suggested something recognizable," Mather writes.

Mather superimposed the 115th onto a skydiver falling to earth.

Either way, the district has a huge, open jaw, which wraps around the city of Utica and its northwestern suburbs. That gave Republicans an advantage of nearly 20,000 enrolled voters. In 2004, Republican David R. Townsend Jr. won by a margin of about 16,000.

Inside the jaw sits the 116th District, a pile of Democratic votes. In 2004, the Republicans didn't challenge Democrat Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito, of Utica.

"Who Squirted the Glue Gun?" (Assembly 129th): This GOP-ruled district resembles a pistol with a sideways glob of glue dangling from its snub-nose barrel. It slaloms across the edges of five counties, ranging from Ontario to Cortland. Only one town - Hopewell, in Ontario County - is entirely enclosed. In each of the counties, Republicans dominate, resulting in a 10,000-voter advantage. That leaves nearby Democratic strongholds in Onondaga County intact.

In 2004, Republican Assemblyman Brian M. Kolb won by 4,000 votes.

"Ying and Yang" (Assembly 119th and 120th): These Democratic districts intermingle over the city of Syracuse like two giant twists of toffee.

The strangely shaped 119th - "The Isle of 'Cuse" - offers Assemblywoman Joan K. Christensen a central city Democratic enrollment advantage of 9,000 voters. Many of those votes are surrounded by the 120th Assembly District, where fellow Democrat William B. Magnarelli has a 6,000-voter margin.

Magnarelli's district, "The Fleeing Octopus" (note the creature's dangling tentacles, clutching Democratic voters), is kept intact by the Isthmus of Valley Drive, a one-block-wide stretch running along the city's southwestern edge.

Likewise, Christensen's turf snakes along Fayette Street, then swells in the city's center.

In 2004, the newly redrawn maps forced then-118th Republican Assemblyman William Sanford out of his district and into Christensen territory, where he lost by about 6,000 votes.

"Fido on His Leash" (Senate 49th): Incumbent Democrat Sen. David Valesky of Oneida calls his constituents "49ers," which at least gives them one thing in common.

The leash - which stretches to the Cayuga County town of Sterling - touches Lake Ontario, but Fido's tail extends to the Otsego County line. The district originally was designed to protect then-incumbent Sen. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann, a recently converted Republican, whose political roots extended into the city's East Side. But in 2004, the GOP's conservative wing bolted from Hoffmann, and a bitter feud handed the tethered, sitting dog to the Democrats.

Currently, the Republicans hold a slim 1 percentage point lead in enrollments - 35 to 34 percent - over Democrats. That makes the 49th one of the state's most competitive district.

"It has your urban areas, four cities, your suburban areas, your rural areas," says 121st Assemblyman Jeff Brown, R-Manlius, who plans to run against Valesky. "If you can represent this district, you can represent any district."

Neither Brown nor Valesky can transverse the district without an amphibian vehicle. Skaneateles Lake cuts off the western towns.

They must also campaign in four cities - Syracuse, Rome, Oneida and Auburn - which were sliced and diced into the new district. Valesky says that's an injustice.

"We ought to be looking at whatever possible to keeping communities whole and intact," he says.

Both Valesky and Brown have sponsored separate bills that would establish independent panels to draw up future election districts.

That will come after the next U.S. Census. By then, a new set of power brokers likely will rule Albany - painting new maps in the art of politics.

"It's all about power and rigging the system, so that New Yorkers are denied competitive elections as much as possible," says Blair Horner, executive director of NYPIRG. "But sometimes when I look at the maps, I do think the people who draw them must have a sense of humor."

Author: Hart Seely Staff writer
Section: Opinion
Page: D1