TESTIMONY OF REGINA CALCATERRA

BEFORE THE LEGISLATIVE TASK FORCE ON DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AND REAPPORTIONMENT REGARDING REDISTRICTING

October 5, 2011
Farmingdale, NY

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Task Force:

My name is Regina Calcaterra and I am a resident of New Suffolk in the Town of Southold, in the County of Suffolk, a county where I was born and raised. I am a partner in the law firm Barrack, Rodos & Bacine where I litigate against egregious and complex corporate fraud and actually bring back billions of dollars to our public pension funds and wronged investors.

I am testifying on my own behalf today in this hearing because I believe the process of reapportionment must be non-partisan and, for the people of Eastern Suffolk County, focus on three primary criteria:
First, the maps for new legislative districts must make geographic sense;
Second, the critical industries to Eastern Suffolk County’s economy must be protected from political gerrymandering, and not split and weakened, so that they continue to be heard with a clear voice in Albany and;
Third, special attention must be paid to leaving communities intact.

According to the Census, the districts that significantly represent Eastern Suffolk County, such as the First Congressional District, the First Senatorial District and the First Assembly District were all among the fastest growing districts in all of New York State. The Town of Riverhead has been the fastest growing town on all of Long Island.

Demographically, the Hispanic Community has been a leader in growth. Economically, Eastern Suffolk County’s Agriculture community has remained a leading industry and employer.

The First Senatorial District, from a geographic and practical perspective, presents a unique situation for this panel.

This is one of the most populated districts in New York State, and has experienced some of its fastest growth. Yet, from a geographic perspective, it remains among the largest in terms of square miles. A state Senate district of this size, with this geography, is challenged to meet the needs of its people as effectively as it should compared to the size of other state Senate districts. As of now, more than 20,000 of its residents must be placed into a new district to bring population parity to the First Senatorial District. And since you cannot cede Montauk to England, the lines must be moved from West to East.

This must be done with care and respect for voting rights as outlined in the U.S. Constitution. This must be done with geographic sensibility.

And, importantly, it must be done with respect for the taxpayer. Last year, Gannett News Service reported that the state senator from the first senate district led all 212 legislators in spending on constituent mail – more than $350,000 worth at the time – with the excuse that there were so many households in the First Senatorial District that he found it necessary.

In fact the First Senatorial district experienced the highest population increase within its borders than all other state senate districts thus bringing it the present population of over 341,000, which is now the third most populous in the state followed by sixteen senate districts that have between 320,000 and 336,000 and the remaining forty-five trail behind with fourteen of them actually having less than 300,000 which is at least a 10% difference in population then the highest populated districts.

To the extent that the First Senatorial District must lose population to achieve parity with other districts throughout New York, it should be reduced in size geographically by moving vertical lines from West to East; at the same time, communities should be left intact where possible. Those who live in the same school districts, towns, neighborhoods and hamlets, where possible, should not be split. Currently, for example, part of Selden is situated in the First Senatorial District and part in the Second Senatorial District. There are times when this may not be avoided but, frankly, I ask that you simply try harder to keep communities together.

Eastern Suffolk County is also unique from an economic perspective. The heart of this region is the most active agricultural community in all of New York State.

There are hundreds of farms in Suffolk County, and most of them are in the First Senatorial District where I reside. They are responsible for more than $300 million per year in local commerce, not including tourism from the North Fork’s renowned wine industry.

With our farms taking up more than 35,000 acres in Suffolk County’s East End, dividing those farms between Senate districts would weaken our agricultural communities political voice in Albany at the very time our economy demands their voice be heard loud and clear.

These I believe are the most important considerations one should take when conducting reapportionment for Eastern Suffolk County. As a resident of this part of state, I hope that the commission will pay close attention to the important economic and representational topics I have discussed.

As a resident of New York State, there are more general reapportionment topics about which I wish to testify.

Most alarmingly, we’re now hearing that the Republican Senate Majority is considering the addition of a 63rd Senate Seat. And recently it has come to my attention that the additions of 64th and 65th senate seats have also been floated as ideas.

Members of this task force: With layoffs of 3,500 state workers pending, with a state economy that is still staggering and with every single school district in the First Senatorial District experiencing cuts in state aid this year, the idea of ADDING even one additional seat to the state Senate is profoundly disrespectful to all state taxpayers. I ask you to take this off the table as an option immediately. In fact, based upon the recent Census data where New York lost over 1.5 million residents. If we calculate our senate districts by an average of 320,000 voters each, we can stand to eliminate at least four senate seats this reapportionment cycle. Because of this reality, any attempt to ADD more senators could only be seen as an act of political expediency, rather than a legal, democratic reform.

There is also a lawsuit pending in state Supreme Court on the issue of whether districts upstate in which prisons are located should include prisoners from various parts of New York, including Suffolk County, as residents of those counties. What strikes me as noteworthy about that lawsuit is the plaintiff’s classification of senate districts as “Republican districts” or “Democratic districts.” First of all, this completely disregards the tens of thousands of voters who are members of third parties or simply unaffiliated with any political party. And second of all: political parties do not own legislative districts. The people do.

Finally, with all due respect to this Commission, as a voter and taxpayer, the best solution for reapportionment is to take it out of the hands of elected politicians and create an independent redistricting commission now not ten years from now. Legislative leaders have the power to call a special session right now, today, and place such a bill before the Legislature for a vote with the requirement that an independent commission complete its work in 30 days. We could have new legislative lines drawn, independently, by Thanksgiving.

With the course you are on now, you are risking a veto by the governor and having district lines determined by the courts and again will be adding to the public’s perception of a fraudulent corrupt Albany. This does not help democracy.

To close, I want to take this opportunity to echo those who say voters should select their legislators, and legislators should not get to pick their voters.

Thank you for your time.