New maps under-represent City voters

The proposed maps for the state Senate released today by New York’s legislative task force on redistricting (LATFOR) systematically under-represent voters from New York City, New York World has found.

And they put together this nifty map showing just that. Under the proposed new lines, the average state Senate vote by a New York City resident weighs 7.3 percent less than the average vote cast upstate. The population of almost every district north of Westchester is more 4.5 percent smaller than the average-sized district.

The principle of “one person, one vote” is a cornerstone of American election law, and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that there must be no more than a 10 percent difference between the largest and smallest districts in a state. But even this margin allows room for manipulation. By creating systematic discrepancies in the sizes of districts, parties can create additional districts in regions that support them and dilute the voting power of regions that favor their opponents.

You can see all of our coverage on the LATFOR maps here.

New York State prohibits itself from doing business with businesses that do business with Iran

Nice headline, right?

The state Senate and Assembly passed a bill prohibiting local governments from entering into new contracts or renewing existing contracts with any company that has more than $20 million in dealings with the Iranian oil industry

Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz released a statement on the Iran Divestment Act: 

“The Iran Divestment Act of 2012, which I co-sponsored and helped pass in the Assembly yesterday, would prohibit New York State from doing business with companies that invest in Iran’s energy sector.

“This legislation renews New York’s commitment in the fight against terrorism, taking a bold stand and sending a message loud and clear that our great state will not help fund Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Under our bill, people, businesses and organizations that invest substantial sums of money in the Iranian energy sector would be identified by the state Office of General Services and prohibited from doing business with state and local governments, helping keep taxpayer money out of the hands of known international terrorists.”

There are 47 companies affected by this, though it looks like only one, Siemens, has divisions that do business with New York. The list was compiled last month by the California Department of Insurance. All are based overseas.

Here is the video of Assembly Majority Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos discussing the ban as well as other issues, such as redistricting the state Senate to 63 seats, from the Albany Times Union.

State of the State script

In case you're interested, here is the script Gov. Andrew Cuomo used (but didn't exactly stick to) during his State of the State Wednesday.


SOS Book-1