Astorino Vetoes County Redistricting Plan, Calls Splitting Harrison "Crazy"

Calling it “flawed” and “rushed,” County Executive Robert P. Astorino has vetoed the redistricting plan for county legislative districts approved last week by the Board of Legislators.

“There are many reasons for my disapproval and veto of this local law,” said Astorino (R) in a released statement, “which vary from the flawed, closed-door, and rushed process to the unfortunate and unnecessary division of municipalities.”

The redistricting plan was passed along party lines 12-5 by the Democrat-controlled board.

Astorino was in West Harrison Wednesday evening where, among other things, he discussed the redistricting plan and its possible affect on Harrison. Under the new proposal parts of West Harrison are merged with the White Plains in District 5, Purchase is merged with downtown Harrison in District 6, while south and east portions of downtown are part of District 7.

"It is crazy that Harrison would be split into three," said Astorino during an hour-long appearance at a West Harrison Neighborhood Association Meeting. "You'll have three legislatures, who speaks on behalf of the town? You know, it's insane."

The Harrison Town Board has already signed a resolution objecting to the change. Trustee Joseph Cannella explained that splitting Harrison without deeper consideration will adversely affect the town.

"Clearly they didn't look good for Harrison, so we were already on record with that," Cannella said during Wednesday night's meeting.

Astorino said he is in favor of keeping the original lines essentially the same south of Interstate 287, which would leave most of Harrison's district in-tact. He said that some changes are necessary in northern Westchester, but the Board of Legislature's proposal changes too much after too little consideration.

"This was the case of finding a solution to a problem that didn't exist," Astorino said, adding that although Harrison's population jumped in the 2010 census Purchase College students were counted this year and weren't in 2000, representing most of the increase.

"I think it was silly, I think it was unfair and I think it was bad process," he said.

Democrats have denied that the process was rushed. Legislator Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers) called the process fair in a statement released Thursday, adding that the changes to the district lines were small and necessary.

“In the end, the Board of Legislatures adopted new district maps that are fair and hard to fault. The fact that the redistricting was campleted extremely close to the existing lines, with necessary changes the result of population shifts, was clearly understood by most Westchester residents, since less than a handful voiced an opinion otherwise," Jenkins said.

Harrison Mayor/Supervisor Joan Walsh said Wednesday she has been told having three voices on the board could be a good thing for Harrison. But that notion was quickly shot down by Cannella and Astorino.

"That's absurd," Cannella quipped.

Astorino said that having three legislatures is essentially meaningless unless all three are in agreement on a certain piece of legislation, which won't always be the case.

"That's just the dynamics of the board," he said. "It's not going to go anywhere, if you have one legislator with one voice than he or she could have some sort of coalition."

Astorino also questioned the need for the districts to be split so quickly. He said state law allows the process to be extended until 2013. New York State plans to take the entire year to re-set its districts.

"Twenty days, from start to finish, it took 20 days for the board of legislatures to change the lines and rush through and vote the proposal," he said.

The Board of Legislatures has the super majority necessary to override Astorino's veto. The county executive said Wednesday that he hopes the board considers altering the plan, but he doubts that will be the case.

"I'm going to veto it, whether they override it or choose to go back to the drawing board will be up to them," he said. "But if you're unhappy with that you should probably say something."