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Dustin Czarny has worked in local politics since 2002. In that time, he said, he’s never seen a meeting as poorly run as Republicans’ attempts to redistrict the Onondaga County Legislature in their favor.

As a commissioner of the county Board of Elections, Czarny, a Democrat, was one of six people assigned with creating proposals to redraw County Legislature districts after the 2020 U.S. Census.

The county commission consisted of Czarny, his Republican counterpart Michele Sardo, then-Legislature Majority Leader David Knapp and three other members, two of whom were appointed by Republicans and one appointed by Democrats. Knapp and another Republican member of the commission did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, in the city of Syracuse, redistricting has gone on nearly without a hitch, according to Czarny. Syracuse Common Council created a citizen-led independent redistricting commission last summer to redraw its council districts. The 15-member commission was randomly selected from a pool of qualified applicants starting in July, none of whom were affiliated with local politics.

Syracuse University math professor Graham Leuschke is one of the committee’s randomly selected members.

“I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” he said. “When I was chosen as one of the first eight members … City Auditor Nader Maroun explained the problems with the county system and how the desire is for the city to be different, to be citizen-led and without politics.”

The city took inspiration from Austin, Texas, which used a similar citizen-led commission to finish its new city council maps in October. City officials wanted to avoid the inherent conflict of interest which comes with politicians drawing the borders of their own districts, Common Councilor Michael Greene said.

“We wanted it to be driven by regular citizens that were engaged in the political process,” Greene said. “They’re independent people that are not directly involved in the political process. And that’s balanced from a political ideological perspective and from a demographic perspective. It’s a true cross section of the city as it exists today.”

The county commission, though, has rushed the redistricting process, Czarny said.

“They took things that could have taken a year and put it together within 28 days,” Czarny said. “By doing so, they ignored all input from community members, myself and others about what the map should look like.”

Republicans, who led the commission, ignored the maps proposed by Czarny and other Democrats and made no attempts to include their feedback, Czarny said. Even public feedback, most of which focuses on the commission’s very fast timeline, was ignored, he said.

“There’s not one alteration that (Republicans) can point to on their map that is based on public input. It’s not just Democrats, the people who came to these meetings have been ignored too,” Czarny said.

The pandemic has only lengthened what is already a long process when compared to Onondaga County. While the county created maps in just over three weeks, the city process is expected to take an entire year, with maps ready around next summer, according to Leushke.

The public will get about 12 opportunities to have a say on district maps. There will be meetings in each of the five Common Council districts both before and after draft maps are made, and then two more public meetings before maps are finalized. That public input is key to the city’s model, Czarny said, and is what the county’s redistricting process is missing.

“(In the city of Syracuse) you are not seeing this vitriol, this rushed process. They are taking their time over the next year to get this done,” he said. “The county executive and the County Legislature GOP put in place a process that has now come to an outcome that we all said it would — partisan vitriol and partisan maps.”

It’s a success story that can pave the way for rolling out similar commissions statewide, said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause NY, who was consulted as the city legislation was being drafted.

“We view the City of Syracuse as a model for the rest of the state,” Lerner said, “It proves that there are really civic-minded and qualified citizens who want to do this and that there’s a genuine public interest in the idea. … Syracuse is way ahead of the curve.”

County Republicans’ efforts are part of a national trend of gerrymandering for partisan gain where possible, Greene said.

“It’s a party in control using its power to gerrymander maps that are favorable to them. This whole process has been very rushed and it’s just not best practice,” Greene said. “It’s a process that’s intended to end up with a partisan advantage for the Republicans in the County Legislature, and I think that’s what we’re seeing.”

The commission’s map was eventually passed by the County Legislature along party lines on Nov. 12. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, a Republican, vetoed that map on Nov. 23, saying that it could open the county to legal challenges.

If the map was signed by the executive, county Democrats and activist organizations like the New York Civil Liberties Union would have likely filed suit against the county, Czarny said. The map violated state law by creating districts which have too great a difference between their populations and by turning District 16 — the only district with a majority-Black population in the county — into a majority-white district.

McMahon’s veto sent county Republicans back to the drawing board to create maps which are not likely to break state laws. A revised map was passed by the legislature on Dec. 21 that splits District 16 into multiple majority-minority districts, but none that are majority-Black. Advocates, including the New York Civil Liberties Union, are now considering legal action against that map, according to District 16 Legislator Charles Garland.

With his background in math, Leuschke has attempted to bring statistical models into the conversation as the committee begins to consider redistricting, he said. However, progress has been slow. The pandemic has delayed meetings substantially, with the committee only beginning to schedule public hearings in December.

Even just replacing committee members with average citizens instead of politicians makes the process much more effective, Leuschke said.

“It’s been interesting to me, just as a city resident, to meet the 14 other people on the commission and to get a much better picture of who lives in Syracuse,” he said. “As an ivory tower professor who spends most of his time (on campus), I don’t have a lot of opportunities to just meet folks from all across the city, in all walks of life, and learn about what they think is important in this area.”

The city’s commission can serve as the direct inspiration for what Onondaga County should do next, Czarny said.

“One good thing we are getting out of this with the county is that we are getting a close look at what we should be doing, which is the Syracuse process, and exactly what we shouldn’t be doing, which is the county process now.”

Published on January 24, 2022 at 12:58 am

Contact Nick: nickrobertson@dailyorange.com | @NickRobertsonSU