*Cross-posted from ReformNY
Back in high school, my father coached my AAU basketball team- a
hodgepodge of players who were just good enough to get invited to
tournaments, where we would then get manhandled by teams with actual
talent. We had very little size, but we played solid, scrappy defense.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get a lot of rebounds. This incensed my dad,
whose primary coaching tool was screaming “BOX!” (as in “box out”) as
loudly as possible, whenever a shot would go up.
One day, after
a particularly disappointing game, he told us the story of some
barnyard animals who avoided all of the tasks necessary to prepare a
meal for themselves, yet they still wanted to partake in the feast. The
protagonist, Henny Penny, would ask them all “Who will pick the grain?”
or “Who will knead the dough?”, and animals like Lucy Goosey and Turkey
Lurkey would summarily reply, “Not I!” Henny Penny was left to do all
of the work, but, predictably, the other animals were more than happy
to dig in once it was time to eat. The goal of the story was to point
out our team’s reluctance to do the grunt work that needed to be done
(i.e, rebounding), even though all of us wanted to reap the rewards of
victory.
Enter Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton. Her guest column
on redistricting in the Ithaca Journal illustrates how Henny Penny and
Turkey Lurkey are sometimes the same creature. The beginning of her
piece is in the Henny Penny mold, presenting some important
considerations and questions for redistricting reform, including
compliance with Voting Rights Act, respecting communities of interest,
etc.
But these considerations begin to sound more like excuses
that undermine reform as the article goes on. For instance, Lifton
wonders aloud whether we could find non-partisans “who would be willing
to take on the complex task” of redrawing the boundaries for New York’s
Congressional and state legislative districts, even though 2.3 million
New Yorkers are not registered to any
political party. And she struggles to understand how an independent
commission might be structured (as if one must be adopted out of whole
cloth) ignoring the fact that such commissions already exist elsewhere. In short, it’s as if she’s premptively saying ”Not I!", a la Turkey Lurkey.
In fairness, I have no trouble with being cautious on redistricting
reform; we should be wary of recreating the current structure that
keeps the power to draw district lines, in essence, with the
legislature. Similarly, we must ensure that minority communities get a
fair shake. However, those who are facilitating the discussion should,
at the very least, present redistricting reform as an issue with
obstacles and substantial
benefits, not simply highlighting the negatives. Had Henny Penny
pitched the work as back-breaking labor to produce a meal that was
“pedestrian” or “lacking inspiration”, the story wouldn’t make any
sense. Who’s going to give up a day of frolicking on the farm for that?
The Brennan Center salutes any and all who support meaningful and
effective redistricting reform, including Assemblywoman Lipton. But we
hope said supporters are converting more of our state’s Turkey Lurkeys
into Henny Pennys, and not the other way around.