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I appreciate some of the work Common Cause has done over the years. For example, they endorsed my National Popular Vote legislation that was passed this year and signed by the Governor.

There is also another, less good government side of Common Cause. It was Common Cause that drew and urged passage in 2012 of what I can only describe as race-based proposed assembly district lines. While the Bronx was entitled to 11 assembly districts, Common Cause advocated for district lines that had the Bronx sharing four districts with either Manhattan or Westchester. Had these lines become law it would have severely diluted the political power of the Bronx -- the most heavily minority county in the state. Instead of keeping neighborhoods together, they advocated for districts that ignored neighborhoods and instead were drawn based almost entirely on race or ethnicity.

They drew a district that threw Riverdale and Woodlawn in with northern Manhattan, a district that divided the northeast Bronx and put part of it into Westchester, a district that grouped part of the eastern Bronx with southern Westchester, and a district combining part of the South Bronx with East Harlem. Their efforts to chop up communities in favor of districts that were dominated by one demographic group were properly rejected. In fact, what they tried to do was a disgrace.

The individual from Common Cause that was mentioned in the article proudly claimed that it was their proposed Congressional lines that year that were adopted by the court and were widely praised. I'm not surprised that he was proud of those lines, but most people in our neighborhood would probably disagree. Those lines chopped up our community. Where Eliot Engel formerly represented the northwest Bronx, these lines ripped Van Cortlandt Village and Norwood from his district and threw them in with northern Manhattan. The Bronx former had three Congress members whose districts were majority in the Bronx, we now have one. So, Common Cause helped diminish the clout of the Bronx. And they are proud of that.

While their efforts to make sure that legitimate voters were not turned away from the polls is a good thing, the fact is that there have never been serious problems at the polling site in the Amalgamated, and there weren't this time either. I realize that sometimes when someone is sent in from Manhattan as a watcher he or she might have a large sense of self importance, but it was actually this watcher who was disruptive that day. Ironically, the people I was talking to on the street corner were also there on behalf of Common Cause. Attempting to intimidate or harass elected officials, or anyone for that matter, is certainly not consistent with efforts to run a smooth election.