ALBANY - On paper, a new plan to force Reps. Jack F. Quinn and John J. LaFalce into a single congressional district would appear to favor Quinn because it keeps intact nearly 70 percent of his current district. But it's the other nearly 30 percent - the remainder of Buffalo that he now doesn't represent - that would prove worrisome to Quinn under a plan proposed Monday by a special master appointed by a federal court. If adopted, the proposal would force Quinn, who holds the distinction of representing one of the most Democratic-rich districts held by a Republican House member, into a district even less Republican.
When voting in the last two statewide elections is considered, 51 percent of Quinn's current district voted for Democratic candidates; the newly proposed district, Democratic sources said, would jump to what political insiders call a 61 percent "Democratic preference." Although only 30 percent of the district includes areas currently represented by LaFalce, the "Democratic preference" rate would jump from 45 percent currently in LaFalce's district to 61 percent in the new district. The preference rate tracks how voters in that district voted in the previous two statewide contests....
Under the plan, Reynolds' would take over a large portion of LaFalce's current district, including all of Niagara County. As a result... Reynolds' district would become more Democratic, and he'd lose a large chunk of his existing district to Houghton and move into southern Erie County towns currently represented by Quinn...
Under the new plan, a huge area of Western New York represented by Quinn and LaFalce would be made much more compact, and would include all of the cities of Buffalo and Tonawanda, as well as the towns of Tonawanda, Cheektowaga, Orchard Park, Hamburg, Grand Island and a small piece of Amherst, as well as Lackawanna...
The federal court could take Lacey's plan and impose it on the state. Or the State Legislature could compromise and come up with an alternative plan. Or a state court, which has created its own special master, could be given the final clout to devise a plan in the coming weeks...
Silver said it appears Lacey set up "two fair fights" and that its possible Democrats could win both. Besides the Quinn and LaFalce merger, Lacey also proposed consolidating districts now held by Reps. Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat, and Sherwood Boehlert, a Republican, in a massive district covering parts of central and eastern New York.
By TOM PRECIOUS News Albany Bureau 5/14/2002
