By Jonann Brady
The coalition has proposed an alternate map that would create a majority black and Hispanic Senate district encompassing Baldwin, Freeport, Uniondale, Roosevelt, Elmont, Franklin Square, West Hempstead and North Valley Stream, among other communities. Based on 2000 census figures, the district would be about 35 percent black and 19 percent Hispanic.
Frederick Brewington, a Nassau County civil rights attorney, has filed a lawsuit against the state to keep the Legislature from adopting the current Reapportionment Task Force's proposal, which he says continues a long-standing pattern of dicing up minority communities to weaken their political power.
The current districts violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Nassau and Suffolk's current lines serve to dilute and disenfranchise minority votes by separating communities of like social and political interests from one another, said Brewington.
At a March 18 Reapportionment Task Force hearing, Barbara Bernstein of the New York Civil Liberties Union Nassau Chapter testified that while about 19 percent of Long Island's population is made up of blacks and Hispanics, most live in just a few contiguous, compact communities like Freeport and Roosevelt.
The white establishment cannot have it both ways, said Bernstein at the hearing. It cannot both resist racial integration and at the same time prevent minorities from a chance for political representation in their own communities. We see what happens when minority communities lack political influence: failing schools, high property tax rates, discriminatory over assessments, lack of services.
Opponents of the minority district counter that high-need communities in Nassau County have benefitted by being coupled with more affluent, and in this case, majority Republican communities.
Tom Dunham, a spokesperson for Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), who heads the Senate redistricting task force, said that as members of the majority party, Sen. Skelos and Sen. Charles Fuschillo (R-Merrick) have a better chance of providing aid to needy communities. Dunham pointed out that Fuschillo recently secured $6 million in aid for the Roosevelt School District.
You toss Roosevelt in that [minority] district and that's not going to happen, said Dunham.
Some minorities agree that they have been well-served by having representation with the majority party. So far, so good. We enjoy good relations with...Sen. Skelos, said Gil Bernadino, director of the Long Beach-based group Circulo de la Hispanidad.
Behind the scenes, Republicans are fighting to hold on to their slim majority in the Senate. Republicans currently hold 35 of 61 seats, and under the proposed minority plan, Sens. Skelos and Fuschillo would end up competing in the same 9th Senate District.
And on the other side of the aisle, Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Martin Connor of Brooklyn, are in the background3, pushing the alternate plan in the hopes of securing more Democratic seats.
How does it affect Baldwin?
Doris Duffy, a member of the Baldwin Community Association, has lobbied for Baldwin to be in a unified district with one Senator and one Assemblyperson. Currently, Baldwin is represented by two Senators and three Assemblymembers.
Though all of Baldwin would be contained in this this proposed Senate district, Duffy said that as a non-partisan organization, the BCA would not take a stand on the proposed minority district because it is being advocated by the Democratic party. The BCA will include an article about the plan in its next newsletter.
We're informing the membership, and they can make their own judgements, said Duffy.
Tom Dunham argues that Baldwin would end up losing out by being linked with more high-need communities that have different problems to address.
That kind of district would be devastating to Baldwin, he said.
Advocates of the alternate plan disagree.
County Legis. Patrick Williams (D-Uniondale) represents a small part of north Baldwin and believes that communities in the proposed minority district have enough common ground to have all voices heard.
Linking Baldwin and contiguous districts creates a more natural district with better representation, said Williams.
Other proponents of the minority district are more blunt when it comes to the idea that certain communities will suffer by association with minority districts.
"I resent the characterization that this [proposed] district has all these social problems," he Legis. Roger Corbin (D-Westbury).
The state Legislature is set to vote on their version of the map on Tuesday, after this paper goes to press. The map will then cross Gov. George Pataki's desk for approval and undergo a review by the Justice Department.
However the votes come down, the Legislature can expect a fight. The lines must be settled by June 15, said Dunham, who was confident the Senate's version would pass.
Fred Brewington and others pushing for the minority district said they are ready to go to court.
If they [the Legislature] don't do the right thing, they'll have to tell it to the judge, said Brewington.
