ALBANY -- Last night, State Senator Daniel Squadron released the following statement upon Senate votes to approve redistricted lines and a constitutional amendment:

Make no mistake, for New Yorkers, these redistricting bills are more of the same old Albany.  They mean politicians choosing their constituents, so that constituents have less ability to choose their representatives -- not just for ten years but permanently.

Before the 2010 election, 53 Senators pledged to oppose any lines that were not drawn by an independent commission. Yet, tonight, the Senators that made that pledge and voted for this deal doubly broke their promise: by voting for lines that are not independent, and voting for a constitutional amendment that enshrines a corrupt process that leaves final power with the legislature.

Even if the constitutional amendment did what its supporters claim, with the pledges made last term broken, how can New Yorkers trust this deal rooted in a promise that must be kept next term? Simply put, they can't.

The only way to change this poisonous process once and for all is to get the legislature out of the business of drawing its own districts right now by vetoing these lines. That will be the time for discussions of a better law and a constitutional amendment that truly creates an independent process.

One more year based on this process, much less a decade of its gerrymandered and political results, is unacceptable. That is why I could not vote for these bills, and I urge the Governor to veto these political lines.

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