Gerrymandering
Democrats need to win back the New York State Senate
[Note: This is an abridged version of an earlier post.]
A little known fact : even though New York has had its fair share of Democratic governors, its state government has been in the clutches of the Republicans for 150 years. The only two times the state government was all blue were in 1932 and 1964. Teddy Roosevelt said once that 'the state Senate is constitutionally Republican'; it's not, but it's been reliably Republican since that party was founded in the 1850s.
It's probably the main reason so many groups have come together to support Craig Johnson.
Another little known detail about the Albany political machine : Incumbency has become the product of anti-democratic redistricting shenanigans.
It is outrageous that NYC, the single
largest demographic in the state, does not have proportional representation in Albany. This is because for years Republicans have been able to pass legislation that favors their districts.
Only in New York would you have majority white and Republican districts inflate their demographics by counting their prison population. This is what The New York Times has to say about the practice [Ending the Prison Windfall — New York Times editorial | Prisoners of the Census]:
Election Reform | Elections | Fundraising | Gerrymandering | Netroots | Poverty | Race | Albany | Craig Johnson | Democrats | Eliot Spitzer | Long Island | New York
