In a strange coincidence that makes a person raise her eyebrows, Assemblyman Peter Abbate, otherwise known as “the union’s poodle”, recently took a trip to China. The coincidence is strange because of two related happenings in the same time. One, and perhaps the most important of these coincidences is Mr. Abbate’s acceptance and support for the establishment of an Asian-American District that has been proposed by LAFTOR and that will replace the 49^th AD as it is now.

Another reason is his listed expenditure of $2,500.00 to the Asian- American Business Development Center in his January 2012 NYS Board of Elections financial disclosure report for a “business trip”. http://www.elections.ny.gov:8080/reports/rwservlet?cmdkey=efs_sch_report+p_filer_id=A03218+p_e_year=2012+p_freport_id=J+p_transaction_code=F

If we deeply scrutinize these two developments, one must conclude these were “preventive steps” by Mr. Abbate to prepare and pave the way for his self-perpetuation in office by showing his support to the establishment of such a district in the 49 AD. This new district will take a few years to actually materialize in terms of voting population, just enough time for Peter Abbate to retire and collect his tax exempt hefty pension from the State of New York without any viable challengers from any political party.

This divisive and unethical reapportionment act based solely on ethnic make up of the population should be rejected by those people who have been living in the area as a harmonious community and working together as a group.  It has also been stated apropos of the creation of a similar district in Queens in the “Heard About the Town” Segment of the Feb 1 issue of City & State First Read  http://cb.sailthru.com/view/cfxo.ba/b2ca091c

* The Asian-American community is happy with the creation of a new Asian-majority state Senate seat in Queens, but has plenty of problems with it.  “It seems, based on the proposal … [it is a] cynical game of trying to pit Asian-American communities against virtually everyone else,” said Bright Limm, president of Korean Americans for Political Advancement, at a rally on the steps of City Hall yesterday. “Yes, it is an Asian-American majority district, but it needs not, and therefore should not, come at the expense of dividing communities that are in the proposed district and other surrounding communities.”

The creation of any district should not come at the expense of dividing communities and especially not for the self preservation of any elected official. Once again, Peter Abbate has underestimated the intelligence, respect, and pride the residents of the current 49AD have for their area, regardless of ethnic population. Peter Abbate has made it his business to give his constituents “the business” once again!

Lucretia Regina-Potter is the Female Republican District Leader of the 49^th Assembly District in Brooklyn, N.Y.  She can be reached at contact@LucretiaRegina-Potter.com

www.LucretiaRegina-Potter.com

As the Female Republican District Leader of the 49^th Assembly District, I vehemently oppose the latest proposed reapportionment of the 49^th AD by the NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment (LAFTOR). The lines that have been drawn are arbitrary, capricious, and politically motivated attempts by the legislators of BOTH parties whose only preoccupation is to preserve their political position.

In my opinion, their actions of self-preservation go even further in the 49^th Assembly District. I strongly believe these actions show a clear conspiracy and the outright and prevailing intent to eliminate my position as the duly elected Female Republican District Leader of the 49^th AD. This is in fact evident when we look at the map of the new district as suggested by LAFTOR.     http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/prop2012a/pa049.pdf

The camouflage becomes more evident when LAFTOR claims that their intent is to create an Asian-American district out of the 49^th AD, which has historically been an Italian –American district: a falsis principiis proficisci or a false starting premise. At this point, the question can be raised: Why is an Asian-American district better than an Italian-American district? Why the change? A change of a district lines based only on ethnic reasons is outright wrong, divisive, and even against the law. When we consider that affinity and community interests should be an integral part of the make up of any district we discover that these factors are conspicuously missing.

To cut me out of the 49^th AD and place me into the 46^th AD serves only to get rid of a viable opponent and possible challenger through a candidacy for office to the powers that be, regardless of political affiliation. It is for these reasons that I strongly support Governor Cuomo’s determination to veto all the proposed redistricting plans. To that effect, I have sent the following letter to only person who has the power to stop this farce and bring positive changes to the actions of those people who make up what has been described as the most “dysfunctional legislature in the United States.”

No one has crossed the Rubicon yet!  I strongly urge all people who love good and fair government “of the people, by the people, for the people” to do something.  Step up and be counted!

“Ante alea iacta est” or before the die is cast.

Lucretia Regina-Potter is the Female Republican District Leader of the 49^th Assembly District in Brooklyn, N.Y.  She can be reached at contact@LucretiaRegina-Potter.com

www.LucretiaRegina-Potter.com

Letter to Governor Cuomo:

_________________________________________________________________________________

January 30, 2012

Dear Governor Cuomo:

As the Female Republican District Leader of the 49 Assembly District, I would like to add my opposition to the proposed reapportionment of the NYS Assembly Districts and in particular, of the 49^th AD in Brooklyn. The politicians of both parties camouflage the issue under the appearance of creating districts that better represent their ethnic composition. However, they are disenfranchising thousands of people, mostly of the same background who have lived in the same community for generations. The proposed reapportionment of the 49^th AD also denies these people of their constitutional right to live in an area of their choice. Many the reasons that affect their choice include affinity, as well as shared geographic and community interests.

My Italian-American ancestors, just like your ancestors, decided to live and raise their family in an area of their choice. I have lived and raised my children in Bensonhurst, one of the most Italian-American communities in the State of New York. This community has always welcomed immigrants of many ethnic groups, and today we can proudly say that our community is one of the best examples of people living together and working hard regardless of their ethnic background. I believe to express the opinion of the greatest majority of the people of Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, Bensonhurst, and Bay Ridge when I say that reapportionments based only on ethnic reason, and disregarding the natural geographical locations and affinity denomination of the population of a community, is not the intended objective of the law.

One example of the political manipulation and distortion of the intent of the law is the 46^th Assembly District, where a part of the district is connected to the rest of the district only by virtue of miles of unpopulated highway. This is not only absurd, but also against any practical reason for the establishment of the disparity of such a district.

In my modest opinion, the only reason why the 49^th AD is being “sliced and diced” appears to be a direct and blatant attempt to eliminate and remove me from my strong position of District Leader and the destruction of the base of my constituency, thus eliminating any possible future challenges as candidate for public office.

I support your stand on this issue and I sincerely hope that you will veto such a blatant disregard of the rights of the people and reckless actions of members of the legislature of both parties.

Sincerely,

Lucretia Regina-Potter

Republican District Leader 49AD

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Proposed Map of 49th AD-LAFTOR

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. ”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Wishing Everyone A Happy Healthy and Prosperous

New Year!

Lucretia Regina-Potter and Family

Lucretia Regina-Potter, Republican District Leader 49AD

State Board of Elections allows these optical scanning machines to discard your votes.

EDITORIAL- NY Daily News

Monday, December 12, 2011

Tens of thousands of New Yorkers who went to the polls in 2010 were disenfranchised thanks to the rank incompetence of the state Board of Elections.

That panel — as opposed to the equally inept city operation — set the procedures for casting paper ballots that are counted by electronic scanners. One basic question was how the scanners would deal with ballots on which voters had filled in two ovals for the same race.

For example, one oval for candidate Andrew Cuomo and one oval for candidate Carl Paladino.

Such multiple voting — termed overvoting — was impossible with the old mechanical voting machines. You could not pull the lever and record your vote if you had flicked two switches in a race.

Numerous voting watchdog groups urged the state board to program scanners so they would spit back a ballot with an overvote, clearly alerting a voter of the need to make a fix.

This was simple. This was certain. This was rejected.

Instead, the board set the scanners to display a confusing message informing voters they had overvoted and — hard to believe — actually enticed people to submit the invalid ballots.

Oh, and those ballots would not count.

The Brennan Center at NYU Law School sued before the election to prevent mass disenfranchisement. The board forged ahead nonetheless. Now, the suit has begun to reveal how often voters cast invalid ballots.

Partial results have discovered 50,000 votes that were invalidated, with more to come. Even getting the data was difficult because half the local boards across the state didn’t have the information. As for the city board, those dim bulbs lost the overvote data for 56% of the election districts in Brooklyn and Queens.

Clarity in the voting booth is critical to credible elections. So, too, a full count of votes. New York’s Board of Elections is delivering neither, and it’s offering only an inadequate fix — such as modifying the confusing message on the scanners to at least say the ballot won’t count. But they’re not sure they can even put that minimal change into place by the 2012 election, now a year away.

Forget it. The scanners should be programmed to reject any ballot that has conflicting multiple votes in the same race.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-12-12/news/30509604_1_ballots-overvote-scanners#

Wishing Everyone A Joyous and Wonderful Christmas!

Lucretia Regina-Potter and Family

Lucretia Regina-Potter

Happy 350th Birthday, Bensonhurst!

by Joe Teutonico on Dec 22nd, 2011  Bensonhurst Bean