News

Newark Independent Examiner — As the focus around the state heats up with legislative elections approaching in a couple weeks, there is an underground focus on congressional redistricting that will likely take the place of the legislative elections amongst conversation in the state. Legislative redistricting during the first three months of the year was heated, it exemplified the divide between members of both parties, and displayed the importance of one side “winning” when the map was ultimately released. That same combination of feelings, opinions, and sentiments are already starting to build as the state will have to decide how to draw a map that currently includes thirteen congressional districts, but will only have twelve come January.

Last month, the 13-member commission given the task and responsibility of crafting the new congressional map began the early discussions on the road to January’s decision. The 13-member commission is made up of six Democrats led by former Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts and six Republicans led by Michael DuHaime, a political strategist for multiple Republicans over the years including Governor Chris Christie. The 13th member and likely tiebreaker on votes and the final map is John Farmer, Jr., the former state Attorney General. The chosen thirteen will have a harder task than their predecessors of a decade ago, who chose to ensure incumbent safety with the state’s representation number not changing after the census’ results.

The current makeup of the state’s delegation in Congress is seven Democrats and six Republicans. Democrats have and will continue to argue to maintain their majority advantage, which would become 7-5. While Republicans, after picking up a seat in 2010, have and will continue to make the argument that New Jersey is not as blue or Democratic as it once was perceived to be and would ultimately like to see a map with a 6-6 representation. Democrats were able to obtain a more desireable map in the wake of congressional redistricting with the tiebreaker and Rutgers professor Alan Rosenthal favoring more elements of their map over the Republican map and its suggestions. Democrats hope for a repeat while Republican hope for redemption.

It is almost like a game of political career roulette or musical chairs as Ingrid Reed, a policy analyst from the Eagleton Institute for New Jersey Politics, explained;

“You have 13 chairs on the floor and 13 people, and you take one away and one of those people won’t have a chair.”

In the wake of the first meeting of the commission, DuHaime felt;

“I think we can look to our leaders in the governor’s office and state Legislature as an example of how we can work together to make sure we achieve a result that’s in everyone’s best interest.”

DuHaime will certainly work to lead the Republicans’ effort to create that balanced map of 6-6.

While Roberts expressed,

“The map should be one that reflects the geography, the diversity, and perhaps the political history of New Jersey.”

That history Roberts’ points to is the current majority Democrats hold amongst the congressional members and the fact that there are roughly 700,000 more registered Democrats in the state.

What could be promising for both parties is the fact that Farmer is very much undecided and came into the early meetings open-minded and viewing nothing as predetermined. As he would outline,

“The reality is New Jersey is losing a seat in Congress so it’s likely to be protracted negotiations before any map is adopted. We will try to balance all of the interests of New Jersey (while deciding on the map).”

DuHaime is joined on the Republican side by: former Burlington County Freeholder Director Aubrey Fenton, Morris County attorney Eric Jaso, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, Cape May Freeholder Susan Sheppard, and Sherine El-Abd of Clifton. Roberts is joined on the Democratic side by: former Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez, former Assemblyman Michael Baker of East Brunswick, former Bill Pascrell Chief of Staff Ed Farmer, former Corzine deputy chief-of-staff Jeannine LaRue of Trenton, and Essex County Democratic Committee Chairman Phil Thigpen.

A month after the 13-member congressional redistricting commission sat down to begin initial talks on this year’s redistricting process as well as to set up future hearings, a major pair of those hearings occurred last week. For anyone who followed the legislative redistricting process, they might see history about to repeat itself again as some passionate conversation has already entered the debate.

At the first hearing, taking place in Newark, racial and ethnical representation was at the core of the conversation. During legislative redistricting talks, similar conversation was taking place pertaining to cities like Newark and the rising minority population especially Hispanics in the state. “Communities of interest” that properly represented racial and religious were argued by multiple individuals.

One of those individuals arguing for such areas was Jerry Vattamala, an attorney with the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund. As Vattamala expressed,

“Asian-American communities of interest should be kept whole. The time to correct this injustice is now. The 9th congressional district (represented by Congressman Steve Rothman (D-NJ9)) should be expanded northward (to include more Asians).”

Read the rest of the article at the Newark Examiner >

By Michael Covin

Image: William F. Yurasko/Flickr