The districts of New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and Senator Anthony Palumbo will both grow smaller following the State Legislature’s vote last week to redraw state legislative and congressional district boundaries.
The Legislature’s move, which has been challenged in a lawsuit brought by a Republican-led group of voters, followed a failure by the bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission to draw new maps. Republicans have cried foul, worrying that the new congressional districts will mean a gain of three seats in the state’s congressional delegation.
The redistricting, following the United States Census, also eliminates two upstate Senate seats and creates two new ones in New York City, improving Democrats’ chances in those and a third Senate seat now held by Republicans.
The Assembly and Senate district maps are also changing. The new Assembly district still includes East Hampton Town, Shelter Island, the Moriches in Brookhaven Town, and part of Southampton Town, but the redrawn First District leaves out the Southampton hamlets of Riverside and Northampton and now includes the entirety of Southold Town, which was previously in the Second District.
Mr. Thiele, an Independence Party member who caucuses with Democrats, issued a statement on Tuesday in which he expressed satisfaction that “the character and heritage of the East End will be represented” in the Assembly but lamented the demographic and population shifts that he said are responsible for his First District losing Shirley, Mastic Beach, and Mastic to the Third District.
“Since New York State last went through the redistricting process, the First Assembly District has been the second fastest growing Assembly district in the state,” he said. “This is a true testament to the abundant opportunities and high quality of life offered in the many towns and villages I serve.”
But the population of his current district has grown to 151,223 residents, he said, almost 17,000 more than are permitted for a proportional and constitutional assembly district.
“Southold is part of that ‘community of interest’ that I have always thought should be Peconic County, the five East End towns of Suffolk County,” Mr. Thiele said. Southold is also part of the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund Law, the Peconic Estuary Program, and the East End Supervisors and Mayors Association.
He called the separation of Riverside and Northampton from the First District a mistake. “All of Southampton Town should have remained together,” he said. But, he added, “the fact is that regardless of district boundaries, East End state legislators have always approached our jobs as if we collectively work for the entire East End region. State Senator Tony Palumbo, State Assembly member Jodi Giglio, and I have continued that tradition and will continue to do so into the future.”
Both he and Mr. Palumbo expressed disappointment in the Independent Redistricting Commission’s failure to agree on new district boundaries. The Commission, “which was passed in a bipartisan manner by the State Legislature and overwhelmingly approved by voters, was a chance to take politics out of the hyper-partisan redistricting process,” Mr. Palumbo, a Republican, said in an email to The Star. “Sadly, these reform efforts were thwarted by the Albany powerbrokers who are more interested in maintaining political power than serving the will and interest of New Yorkers.”
Mr. Thiele said that he was “wholly disheartened by the lack of productive outcome” from the commission. “In 2014, this commission was given a constitutional obligation by the voters of the State of New York to deliver a fair and informed redistricting proposal to the Legislature. In the end, no singular proposal was ever delivered due to partisan squabbling and the duty fell back onto the Legislature as it has in decades prior. It goes without saying that in the future the redistricting process requires further reform and accountability. I am committed to creating a true independent process in the future.”
