A Republican form of government is nothing more than the recognized regions being allowed to have a representative in the legislative body. New York State was one of 49 states in the U.S. that had a Republican form of government: one house of the NYS Legislature (i.e., the NYS Senate) represented the people, and was to address issues that affected residents of the state; the other house (i.e., the NYS Assembly) was to represent the regions, and was to address issues that affected the regions.
The officially recognized regions in New York State are designated in the NYS Constitution as counties, and the function and responsibility of county governments are also specified in the NYS Constitution. Counties are therefore, effectively, instruments of the New York State government.
Because it was the responsibility of the regional representatives to report to the NYS Legislature on issues of regional concern, input from the regions to the NYS Legislature was essential. It was for that reason that every county was guaranteed at least one representative in the Assembly.
In the NYS Constitution, Article 3, Section 5, it is stated. Every county heretofore established and separately organized, except the county of Hamilton, shall always be entitled to one member of assembly, … . Note the state’s guarantee – “always”.
The NYS Constitution also spelled out how the more densely populated counties were to be given additional Assembly seats.
The U.S. Supreme Court ignored Article 4, Section 4, when it ruled that every state must base their legislative districts on population (1964, Reynolds v Sims). That ruling effectively destroyed the U.S. Constitutional protection of Article 4, section 4. The 49 states with a legislative Republican structure were ordered to abandoned their constitutionally guaranteed legislative structure. New York State lost its regional representation in the state legislatures as Assembly District lines were redrawn to represent people. Instead of stopping at county lines, the districts were drawn irrespective of county lines. Not only counties, but cities, towns, and villages were chopped up and placed in different Assembly Districts.
From January to March 1 of this year (2023), the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission held 12 public hearings across New York State. Their actions were court ordered, and their goal was to create an acceptable redraft of their 2022 proposed Assembly District map. The majority of the people who presented testimony, talked about how one map or the other (the proposed 2022 map or the revised proposed map) divided their school district, their ethnic group, or religious group, or their town, village, city, or hamlet into two or more Assembly districts. Or, they complained because barriers, such as expressways, train stations, and rivers split the proposed Assembly district into two (and sometimes more) distinct areas that shared nothing in common. And still others considered the maps proposed to be nothing more than gerrymandering, intended to benefit one or the other of the two large political parties in the state.
Over the past three months, the commission was presented with testimony concerning how the 1964 U.S. Supreme Court ruling was unconstitutional; how the USSC ignored the US Constitution Article 4, section 4; how the 1964 decision was the result of a misinterpretation by the courts of the restrictions as specified in the 14th Amendment, and how the misinterpretation occurred because of the changed meaning of the word among. The 14th Amendment only set restrictions on Representatives to Congress. With a stretch of logic, it could be assumed to apply to the NYS Senate (because the NYS Senate Districts are based on population), but should not have been applied to the assignment of Assembly Seats.
Information was also presented to the IRC concerning how the 1984 USSC decision (Brown v Thompson) partially reversed the 1964 ruling. The 1984 ruling effectively stated that legislative districts that are assigned to regions by the state’s constitution, even if representatives are assigned to regions with only a small number of residents, that those assignments are constitutional as long as there is no bias or prejudice built in to the design of those districts.
It was further explained to the IRC how the loss of the Republican structure has caused a loss of regional input into the state legislature; how that loss of regional input has created a lack of focus; how the lack of focus has caused a termination of resource development projects all across New York State, the most obvious of which are the termination of expressway and parkway construction projects; how the loss of the regional input by Assembly Members has resulted in increased number of calls by upstate residents to split upstate from downstate, and an increased number of calls from downstate residents to split downstate from upstate. It was pointed out that there was even a proposal to compensate for the loss of regional input by creating a new level of government, with bills submitted in both the NYS Senate and Assembly, that would insert that new government structure between counties and the NYS Legislature.
This year, New York State has an opportunity to restore the Republican structure to the NYS Legislature. The return of the Republican structure of the NYS legislature will eliminate most, if not all, of the complaints the IRC has received concerning school districts; racial, ethnic, social groups; towns, cities, and villages; as well as the counties themselves, being split helter-skelter.
Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that the IRC will propose the restoration of the Republican structure to the NYS legislature by assigning the Assembly seats to the counties. Consequently, there is only one path left to take in order to restore the Republican structure. That path is for the NYS Legislature to reject any map submitted by the IRC that has even one Assembly District overlapping a county line. If the NYS Senate or Assembly or both reject the ‘population based’ map submitted by the IRC, the NYS Legislature will then have the opportunity to re-assign the Assembly Districts to the counties. All they need to do is follow the instructions as defined in the NYS Constitution. It is proposed that one Assembly seat be assigned to each of the counties, including Hamilton, and the remaining 88 Assembly seats be assigned to the more populous counties, using the formula defined in the NYS Constitution.
It was also suggested that the Assembly Districts all be county wide, including those in counties with two or more Assembly seats assigned, that they be overlapping county wide Assembly Districts. Such an arrangement would allow for ethnic groups, religious groups, social groups, and other politically oriented organizations, to organize county wide to support a representative of their choice. It was also suggested that in counties with two or more Assembly seats, allow voters to only vote for one representative of their choice, even though there will be more than one Assembly seat to fill in the county. Such a practice will increase dramatically the possibility of the smaller groups getting one of their representatives elected.
If the Republican structure is restored, the tyranny of the majority, which is how the current structure of the NYS Government can be defined, will come to an end. Mandates handed down to the counties from the state legislature will end. Calls for a division of New York State will disappear. There will be no need to create a new level of government between the counties and the NYS Legislature. We might even begin to see a real growth in population in NYS as our children decide there really is a future for them in New York State.
What you can do to help restore the Republican structure to the NYS Legislature is to contact your Assembly Representative and NYS Senator and request that they reject the IRC’s proposed Assembly District Map. And, ask them to restore the NYS Constitutional requirements for the assignment of Assembly seats to the counties, with the district ending at the county line, and in counties with two or more Assembly seats assigned, that those districts be overlapping county wide Assembly Districts, and to move to change the voting practices so that voters are allowed to vote for only one Assembly representative of their choosing.