Congressman Serrano Prefers That Party Bosses Draw Lines: UPDATE -- So Does Assemblyman Benjamin

Here is a posting by David Friedlander over at PolitickerNY who writes that Congressman Serrano prefers that party bosses decide the district lines over the type of independent commission being advocated by Ed Kock and his NY Uprising Group. I have posted some of the text below because it is worth reading. Does this seem backwards to anyone?

"It always sounds good to say an independent commission. But to those of us who were there at the beginning of the struggle, for instance, for the Puerto Rican community to gain political recognition, it was much better we thought to go to the political leaders who are not Puerto Rican and say, 'Look we have grown in numbers. We have registered so many people, we want a piece of the American dream, the political dream.' And so many of the gains Puerto Ricans and Latinos made in those days were not based on any independent commission saying, 'Gee you guys deserve this.' It was the so-called political bosses realizing what they had to deal with. Now I know that sounds terrible to some people but I am both a modern man who learned a lot in the old school, and at times when it comes to issues like redistricting I'd rather deal with somebody who knows the district they are drawing than somebody who thinks that you can just draw a box."

UPDATE: Outgoing Bx. Assemblyman Michael Benjamin agrees with this position but has some other ideas on this topic as well. You can see his letter here at PolitickerNY.