SCHENECTADY COUNTY Legislature pushes for weighted voting Census changes affecting county panel BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
Faced with a need to reapportion seats, the Schenectady County Legislature is proposing to change the weight of votes cast by legislators in each district rather than add nine more seats to the 15-member board and redraw district boundary lines, according to County Attorney Chris Gardner. The Legislature will discuss the proposal tonight and will hold a public hearing on a local law to amend the County Charter in May. The Legislature is expected to adopt the local law following the public hearing, Gardner said. The charter mandates the Legislature review its representation following the decennial census. The 2010 Census showed that Schenectady County’s population increased 5.6 percent — the fi rst time since the 1970 Census. The city of Schenectady saw the largest growth, followed by Niskayuna and Glenville. The growth has affected the formula used to calculate how many people each legislator can represent, with the charter limiting a population deviation to 7.5 percent above or below the average population per legislator. According to Gardner, District 2 saw an 8 percent increase in average population per legislator while District 4 saw a 10 percent decrease in average population per legislator. District 2 comprises the southern half of the city and District 4 comprises Rotterdam, Princetown and Duanesburg. In addition to the charter issue, the new population figures of the districts violate federal constitutional requirements outlined under the landmark 1964 Supreme Court case of “one man, one vote,” Gardner said. The case set a population deviation of 10 percent. He said there is an 18 percent deviation in average population between District 1 and District 4. Gardner said the charter and the constitutional requirements would call for the addition of nine more seats, bringing the Legislature to 24 seats, to comply with the guidelines. This would necessitate the redrawing of district boundaries, thereby increasing the possibility of gerrymandering and the cost of county government, he said. A legislator receives an annual stipend of $14,000, plus some also receive health insurance benefi ts. In order to rectify both charter and constitutional requirements, the 13-member Democratic caucus in the county Legislature approved a proposal to change the weight of each legislator’s vote, Gardner said. Republicans have two seats on the board; they were not part of the discussions, said Minority Leader Robert Farley, R-Glenville. “This is another case of the Democrats trying to ram legislation down the public’s throats,” he said. ......................>>>>.......................................>>>>...................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00102&AppName=1
The DEMS have to be joking. A vote will be worth .9? District 2 has three of the most empty neighborhoods in the State-Vale, Mt Pleasant and Hamilton Hill. Now they claim the biggest population increase in the County.
This is a way to water down the votes in the District 4, this town and the Hilltowns. The DEMS know that the REPS are picking up strength here. They don't give a hot damn about equal representation. They care only about retaining power. With insane math-by any means necessary. Everything is decided on a strict party line vote.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
How does keeping the same number of representatives in the district that went UP in population give the people more representation? It doesn't, you give one person a more weighted vote and take away the power from the other representatives. Those people in the districts that went up have less direct representation. This is crap. If the Constitution calls for redistricting and more representatives, then more representatives it is. This is actually usurping the Constitution by granting incumbents of a particular party more power without an election. Fact is, Democrats don’t have 9 candidates to run, and with Roger Hull and the Republicans showing signs of getting their act together and the pendulum beginning to swing in the other direction, they need the advantage of incumbency to help them retain power.
This is crap. If the Constitution calls for redistricting and more representatives, then more representatives it is. This is actually usurping the Constitution by granting incumbents of a particular party more power without an election.
Right it's an unconstitutional power grab. The DEMS know they will lose seats in Districts 1& 4 so they give more power to District 2 where the REPS has a harder time finding candidates. Never heard of any County legislature with a weighted vote. Add a seat to both City districts. We just heard that 3 neighborhoods in District 2 are the most empty in the State. Which is it? This idiotic DEM plan needs to be contested in court.
that is not what the constitution callls for -- every hear of one man, one vote? look it up... get your facts straight before making allegations that are based on paranoia
OR you can abolish the current corrupt and criminal enterprise and return to a Board of Supervisors. But then the "machine" wouldn't oiled with enough cash!
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
SCHENECTADY COUNTY Gardner: Weighted system will save money Farley offers alternative without expanding Legislature BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
The Schenectady County Legislature Tuesday night took a step closer to joining the ranks of about a halfdozen other counties in the state that use a weighted voting system. The step it took was to schedule a public hearing May 10 on a local law amending a section of the County Charter dealing with apportionment of seats. The amendment would allow the use of weighted voting for the first time in the 46-year history of the Legislature. The public hearing will be held before the regular 7 p.m. meeting in the Legislative Chambers on the sixth floor of the County Offi ce Building. The Legislature can approve the local law after the meeting. If it is approved, the law would take effect Jan. 1, 2012, subject to a permissive referendum. ...........................>>>>........................>>>>.....................................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00100&AppName=1
OR you can abolish the current corrupt and criminal enterprise and return to a Board of Supervisors. But then the "machine" wouldn't oiled with enough cash!
This exact scheme is being successfully fought in Cayuga County and subject to referendum here. Anyone in town that would vote for it should have their head examined. NYS is the only jurisdiction that uses this.
Return to an unpaid Board of Supervisors! The DEMS have proven they can't accomplish anything on a bipartisan basis. Landslide Savage is going through every County bored purging non-DEMS.
maybe u can ask the republican majority in 1965 why they went to the county leg.. ? there must have been a reason .. probably because it gave the towns more representation at the expense of the city
maybe u can ask the republican majority in 1965 why they went to the county leg.. ? there must have been a reason .. probably because it gave the towns more representation at the expense of the city
No argument here..............that's why it should go back to the BOARD OF SUPERVISORS!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Logged
The DEMS have to be joking. A vote will be worth .9? District 2 has three of the most empty neighborhoods in the State-Vale, Mt Pleasant and Hamilton Hill. Now they claim the biggest population increase in the County. 
