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**DECEMBER 15, 2023**
On the Prospect website
The Immigration Policy Spiral
Joe Biden, from a position of weakness, is trying to cut a punitive deal
on border policy without the House. BY DAVID DAYEN
A Moral Theory for Why People Don't Like Bidenomics
Evidence suggests that people simply hate inflation as such. Luckily, it
is coming down fast. BY RYAN COOPER
The Second Wave of Airline Concentration
After the biggest companies used mergers a decade ago to dominate, now
the lower-tier competitors are getting into the game. But they face
headwinds from federal regulators. BY LUKE GOLDSTEIN
Kuttner on TAP
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**** Corruption in New York's Redistricting
Plans
A key member of the supposedly independent redistricting commission has
a flagrant conflict of interest. Will he recuse himself?
Progressives and Democrats were cheered last week when New York
state's highest court tossed out the 2022 congressional district map
and ordered the state's Independent Redistricting Commission to draw a
new one. A fairer map could flip as many as five seats back to
Democratic.
But what sort of Democrat? In New York's 16th District, a nasty
primary fight is brewing between incumbent Congressman Jamaal Bowman, an
African American progressive, and Westchester County Executive George
Latimer, who is white and centrist. Before the 2022 redistricting, more
of Bowman's district was in the Bronx, which is heavily Black and
Latino. Now, most of the seat is in affluent, largely white Westchester
County.
Following Bowman's criticism of Israel's policy in Gaza and the West
Bank, the Israel lobby in the form of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC) recruited Latimer to challenge Bowman and promised him
scads of money. And Latimer is not shy about pointing out how the new
district map will determine the winner. In an interview with the
publication City & State
,
Latimer said that if the new district should include more of the Bronx
and less of Westchester County, he's "not gonna win that race."
And here's where the plot thickens. Latimer has a fat thumb on the
scale. The chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission is
Latimer's own deputy county executive, Ken Jenkins. If Latimer wins
the seat, Jenkins would move up to county executive. He'd be the first
African American to hold the post.
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The New York Working Families Party, a strong backer of Bowman, has
issued a demand that Jenkins recuse himself
. But unless the
power of public opinion shames Jenkins into stepping aside, it's not
clear who if anyone has the power to remove him.
And it gets worse. Jenkins was appointed to the post by the state Senate
president, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who is also from Westchester.
Stewart-Cousins is a close ally of Latimer and Jenkins, and is the first
African American woman to lead the Senate. So don't expect her to ask
Jenkins to step aside.
Redistricting is all about horse trading. Other members of the
commission will want changes in other districts and they need to corral
votes. It is unlikely that they would cross Chairman Jenkins on the map
of the Bowman seat.
Ultimately, the new proposed map will have to be approved by the
legislature, with a February deadline. Given the recent history of court
fights and damaging gerrymandering, the last thing the Democrat-led
legislature wants is another round of dueling maps and more court
interventions, least of all an intramural fight among Democrats.
Jenkins should step down. If he doesn't, corruption becomes a major
issue in the Bowman-Latimer primary.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
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