Governor Andrew Cuomo’s visit to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle editorial board last Friday had appeared to settle the dust on whether would he sign or veto the new legislative boundaries. He was probably going to sign them, it surely seemed. However, this morning, his aides are insisting to the Daily News he’ll veto the maps.

Mr. Cuomo told the Democrat and Chronicle the “optimum you could have” is lines that are “less hyper political” and a promise to reform the process for when redistricting next occurs, ten years from now, via an amendment to the New York State Constitution.

These demands could be surely met by the legislature, even though it would make good government advocates yawn, minority groups upset and editorial boards livid. The Senate Republicans, who control the process along with Assembly Democrats, have long been pushing for redistricting reform in 2022 instead of 2012, and their initially proposed lines were grotesque and cynical enough that it’d be hard to change the lines and not make them “less hyper political.” Read More