Ken Jenkins, the deputy county executive for Westchester, has been named by NY State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to the NYS Independent Redistricting Commission. Stewart-Cousins made the declaration on November 16, not long after Westchester lawyer David Imamura declared his intention to step down in order to seek MaryJane Shimsky’s vacant seat on the Westchester County Board of Directors. On November 8, Shimsky won a seat in the Assembly.
For two years, the Commission was chaired by Imamura, a lawyer with the Abrams Fensterman LLP business. On January 1st, Shimsky will begin serving as the 92nd District’s new Assembly representative. Then, in 2023, a special election will take place.
Given that the panel has less than two weeks to write new lines for the NYS Assembly, Jenkins’ new position is significant. Judge Patrick McAllister of the State Supreme Court declared last summer that the Assembly boundaries drawn by state legislators were unlawful.
Jenkins decides to join a 10-member group that Imamura described as dysfunctional and tied between its members from the two major parties upon his departure. With the existing system, Imamura continued, “the commission will virtually be unable to reach an accord.”
