Hispanics make up nearly 18 percent of the population, but less than 6 percent of the Legislature
Legislative Redistricting Commission members listen to public speakers during a public hearing held in Camden. PASSAIC — It didn’t take long for witnesses to cut to the chase Wednesday at the final public meeting of the commission that’s redrawing the state’s 40 legislative districts.
More than anything, the fault line in this year’s once-in-a-decade redistricting process is how to restructure New Jersey’s legislative districts in a way that the state’s fast-growing Hispanic and Asian populations elect more politicians to office.
"We ask the commission to look for other opportunities to create majority-Latino districts," said Martin Perez, president of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey. Perez has worked with the Center for a Better New Jersey — a Republican fundraising and map-making group — to draw prospective maps with more districts containing majority Hispanic populations. He urged the commission to "abandon the failed strategies used in the 2001 map."
The issue came up frequently at the commission’s six previous public hearings. Hispanics, who make up nearly 18 percent of the population, fill less than six percent of the seats in the Legislature. Asians, who make up more than 8 percent, fill less than 2 percent of the seats.
The argument was made especially loud at Wednesday's hearing in Passaic, a heavily Hispanic city.
Republicans had requested to host the meeting in Passaic, as it is central to their strategy of advocating for Hispanic-majority legislative districts: Most of its population is Hispanic, but the state senator and two Assembly members are all white. The strategy would have a side benefit for Republicans by separating cities like Passaic from whiter towns that are more likely to vote Republican.
Democrats fired back. Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), also a member of the Passaic City council, said the new map should be constitutional and "forward looking." Zaida Polanco, a commissioner on the Passaic Board of Education who is active in Democratic politics, was suspicious about the Republicans’ concern with electing Hispanics.
"Is it because they want to advance public policy to benefit the Latino community? That couldn’t be the case, because just a few months ago, when budget cuts were proposed that impacted our community, there was not a single Republican voice that advocated against the cuts," she said. "This strategy is not about electing Latinos. This strategy is about electing Republicans."
Representatives of the Asian-American community also testified. Hoboken Councilman Ravi Bhalla submitted plans that would create three legislative districts with Asian populations of about 25 percent each, which he said would increase the chances of electing more Asian-Americans.
The 11 members of the commission — five Republicans, five Democrats and one independent chosen by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner — will now hunker down behind closed doors to draw the boundaries that will help determine the partisan makeup of the state Senate and Assembly for the next 10 years.