Dutchess redistricting begins, outcome unknown

Speculation about political races is almost as fascinating to political watchers as uncertainty about the redistricting of legislative districts is daunting. This year, upon release of the U.S. Census figures, legislators on the federal, state and county levels are redrawing their maps to reflect population shifts. In Dutchess County the effort to redistrict has begun, but the delayed release of the Census data (end of March) made it too late for a new map to go into effect for this year’s election. Candidates will begin circulating nominating petitions for November’s election on Monday, May 30.Of the four towns of District 25, Amenia saw the biggest percent growth. The population grew since the 2000 census by 388 people to 4,436. Stanford grew by 279 to 3,823, while Pleasant Valley rose by 606 to 9,672. Only Washington decreased since 2000 by a single person to 4,771.The total county population is then divided by the current 25 county Legislature seats to establish the optimal district size with a 5 percent margin of error in either direction. Should the county Legislature downsize, district size will grow (something that I do not think will serve small towns well by clustering many into one or two large districts with more towns than one part-time legislator can handle). Any cost savings in downsizing will be offset with higher salaries for legislators, which I argue will doubly hurt taxpayers: paying more for less representation. Nevertheless, the option to downsize — as subject to voter referendum — will likely appear on November’s ballot.How our towns will make out in the new reapportionment is unclear. Theoretically, based upon the numbers, Legislator Gary Cooper’s district (North East, Pine Plains, Milan and Stanford) could remain unaltered with the exception of absorbing the final one-third of Stanford that I currently represent. My district could then expand farther into Pleasant Valley while retaining Washington and Amenia in their entirety.In other projections, my legislative district is disemboweled. An unsolicited map prepared by Ulster County’s Citizen Reapportionment Committee completely carves up our district. The town of Washington is divided; the northern half twinned with the full town of Pleasant Valley. This would place Legislator Suzanne Horn and I in a potential primary should we both seek re-election. The southern half of Washington would be merged with Unionvale and part of LaGrange under Legislator Donna Bolner. Stanford would go to Legislator Cooper, while Amenia would merge with most of Dover, presumably represented by Legislator Alan Surman. This map would create new districts in Hyde Park and pit other legislators against each other in Poughkeepsie and Wappinger.The final map will be created and voted on by us legislators, but most of the preliminary work is being prepared by a special commission set up by the Legislature’s chairman. This committee, now meeting weekly, is composed of six geographically-diverse members, including Legislator Cooper (R-Pine Plains), Legislator Sandy Goldberg (D-Wappinger Falls), former legislator and Pawling Supervisor David Kelly (R), former Legislator Ron Ray (D-Beacon), Republican and retired County Court Judge Gerald Hayes (Poughkeepsie) and Democrat citizen appointment Lucy Kruiger (Red Hook).Michael Kelsey represents Amenia, Washington, Stanford, Pleasant Valley and Millbrook in the Dutchess County Legislature. Write him at KelseyESQ@yahoo.com.