Gianaris Compares Senate GOP To Tom DeLay
Here’s something that’s sure to enrage Senate Republicans.
Sen. Michael Gianaris, D-Queens, one of the six Democrats who would be pitted against a fellow conference member if the LATFOR-drawn maps are allowed to stand, compared the Senate GOP to the now-disgraced liberal boogyman Tom DeLay, the controversial former House majority leader from Texas.
(He was placed in the same proposed district with Sen. Jose Peralta. The other matchups are Sens. Toby Stavisky and Tony Avella and Eric Adams and Velmanette Montgomery.
“Let’s not forget something: Tom DeLay is going to jail because he was monkeying around with redistricting exactly the same way Senate Republicans are,” Gianaris told reporters in the city this afternoon. “So we don’t want to bring Tom DeLay politics to New York. The people of New York aren’t going to stand for it.”
DeLay’s troubles down in Texas are bit too complicated to rehash here, but the redistricting process is only a small part of his legal troubles that stem from campaign-finance law violations.
Gianaris, who is leading the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, clarified a bit later in the scrum.
“I’m merely pointing out that Tom DeLay was so interested in manipulating the redistricting process that he crossed the line and is going to jail for it. The Senate Republicans seem just as interested in using the redistricting process in a manipulative fashion. I don’t know that they’ve done the things he’s done, but nonetheless it’s that drive to put politics above the public interest that is similar,” he said.
Of course Texas may be on everyone’s mind, considering the recent Supreme Court decision that found a court overstepped its bounds in redrawing the legislative-drawn lines.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Nick Reisman on January 26, 2012 at 4:18 pm, and is filed under Democrats, Redistricting. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
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