Political wonks across the state were anxiously awaiting the release of the new senate and assembly district maps for the past few weeks. Well, on Thursday the public got to see the proposed maps and they instantly caused a firestorm among, in particular, Senate Democrats. The Republicans hold a slim one seat majority in this chamber and thus, controlled the process here. When the new lines came out, six current senate Democrats found out they were in the same proposed district as one of their colleagues (Senators Adams and Montgomery in Brooklyn, Jose Peralta and Mike Gianaris in Queens and Toby Ann Stavisky and Tony Avella in Queens). This week on the program we sit down with the Republican co-chair of LATFOR, the legislative task force in charge of redistricting, Senator Mike Nozzolio of the Finger Lakes to talk about the process and the surrounding controversy.
Remember, these are just the proposed maps. The task force will now spend the coming weeks traveling around the state getting input on what they’ve drawn up. Governor Cuomo’s spokesman called the new maps 'unacceptable and would be vetoed by the Governor.' Meanwhile, according to Nozzolio, Congressional maps won’t be out for another 6-8 weeks. To find out how your hometown may be affected by these new maps go to the LATFOR website.