County reapportionment begins

Despite an overshadowing by the 2011 county budget (which was formally adopted this week without vetoes), and following the Dec. 1 release of the U.S. Census,  the Legislature took the first step toward setting 2011 county legislative boundaries in the decennial redistricting process.

Our first act was to repeal a 2009 charter change that had redirected authority for setting district boundaries from legislative control to a five-member citizen’s committee. I was a sponsor of this repeal that passed the Legislature 14-10.

It is presumed that population growth during the last decade has primarily transpired in southern Dutchess, meaning those districts will contract, while the population declines of eastern and northern Dutchess could lead to the expansion of current legislative districts serving rural communities.

While the law is clear that districts are based upon population, in my opinion the ideal representation model will also consider each town’s intricacies, and strive to balance the number of municipalities that each legislator represents (e.g., nine legislators currently represent only one town, yet the two districts of northeast Dutchess each include five municipalities).

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The Citizen’s Committee, which had been empowered to draw legislative lines, was to contain five citizens without consideration of geographic representation, and was based solely on political affiliation. This, in my opinion, was flawed logic and rests more on a perverse perception of government as a struggle between parties than on a concept of justice as equality.

While the balance of power between the two major parties is probably the primary consideration of some who view governance as one large ebb and flow with the reapportionment process merely a means for entrenching the ruling party’s power, I do not share this view.

The Citizen’s Committee that we repealed was an attempt to neutralize the potential for political abuse. Yet it was doomed to logical fallacy because its alleged “neutrality†was dependent on political identity to the exclusion of other considerations (like geography, which I argue is a more significant identity factor). It also diluted our functioning representative system that already vests legislators with political and geographical representative authority.

A citizen’s committee of political appointments cannot eradicate political interest from the redistricting process but only mask its appearance while obliterating all accountability of those elected officials who might abuse the public trust for personal gain.

Voters are capable of independent thought. They frequently base their decisions on factors outside of party including outreach, community presence, credentials and character. The concept of self-replicating districts determined by voter enrollment is a stereotype that may sound nice in political ads but locally has been disproved historically.

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Our repeal of the Citizen’s Committee was also practical. Based upon its own timetable a legislative map would not have been produced until August, despite the fact that candidates must circulate petitions in June.

 The repeal reverts the process for drawing lines back to the discretion of the Legislature’s chairman, making reapportionment possible prior to the 2011 election cycle. Fairness should guide it, not political interests disguised as equity.

Michael Kelsey represents Amenia, Washington, Stanford, Pleasant Valley and Millbrook in the Dutchess County Legislature. Write him at KelseyESQ@yahoo.com.