Corruption in New York’s Redistricting Plans

Today on TAP: A key member of the supposedly independent redistricting commission has a flagrant conflict of interest. Will he recuse himself?

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Progressives and Democrats were cheered last week when New York state’s highest court tossed out the 2022 congressional district map and ordered the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to draw a new one. A fairer map could flip as many as five seats back to Democratic.

But what sort of Democrat? In New York’s 16th District, a nasty primary fight is brewing between incumbent Congressman Jamaal Bowman, an African American progressive, and Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who is white and centrist. Before the 2022 redistricting, more of Bowman’s district was in the Bronx, which is heavily Black and Latino. Now, most of the seat is in affluent, largely white Westchester County.

Following Bowman’s criticism of Israel’s policy in Gaza and the West Bank, the Israel lobby in the form of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) recruited Latimer to challenge Bowman and promised him scads of money. And Latimer is not shy about pointing out how the new district map will determine the winner. In an interview with the publication City & State, Latimer said that if the new district should include more of the Bronx and less of Westchester County, he’s “not gonna win that race.”

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And here’s where the plot thickens. Latimer has a fat thumb on the scale. The chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission is Latimer’s own deputy county executive, Ken Jenkins. If Latimer wins the seat, Jenkins would move up to county executive. He’d be the first African American to hold the post.

The New York Working Families Party, a strong backer of Bowman, has issued a demand that Jenkins recuse himself. But unless the power of public opinion shames Jenkins into stepping aside, it’s not clear who if anyone has the power to remove him.

And it gets worse. Jenkins was appointed to the post by the state Senate president, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who is also from Westchester. Stewart-Cousins is a close ally of Latimer and Jenkins, and is the first African American woman to lead the Senate. So don’t expect her to ask Jenkins to step aside.

Redistricting is all about horse trading. Other members of the commission will want changes in other districts and they need to corral votes. It is unlikely that they would cross Chairman Jenkins on the map of the Bowman seat.

Ultimately, the new proposed map will have to be approved by the legislature, with a February deadline. Given the recent history of court fights and damaging gerrymandering, the last thing the Democrat-led legislature wants is another round of dueling maps and more court interventions, least of all an intramural fight among Democrats.

Jenkins should step down. If he doesn’t, corruption becomes a major issue in the Bowman-Latimer primary.

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