Redistricting? More like Gerrymandering...

Anyone else wonder how a district in Western New York could be historically GOP, in an otherwise (Short of one other district) Democratic Party state?

That's easy.  Look at the district map for NYS.  Seems, somehow, down the line, a district carved from only rural areas was drawn up.  And, the 26th district contains only Rochester, which, while it is a major metro area; the population covered is far less than the rural areas.

So, a giant swath of rural area, with a smaller metro area tossed in for good measure, somehow got created, rather than a more sensible method of using major metro centers as the center of the districts, and the surrounding rural areas being included.

This is gerrymandering.  From Wikipedia:

"In the process of setting electoral districts, rather than using uniform geographic standards, Gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected districts. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander; however, that word can also refer to the process." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering

This is a perfect example of the above.  The rural area carved out in such a way, that the metro area is engulfed by the rural constituents.  The effect is that Rochester as a whole, gets ignored, while the true minority have an unusually large command of the legislative process.  Which in turn causes things like the GOP controlling ANY seats in the US Senate and House for NYS.

This is a major reason I am opposed to the redistricting process put forth by Mark Grisanti.  He proposes a "bipartisan" committee draw up the map.  Why do we need a committee?  Draw the map up with population centers being the biggest districts, which include the surrounding more rural areas.  This is not rocket science people.

Of course, he neglects to mention who would APPOINT this committee.  Wont be a vote by us.  It will be by appointment.  And, who controls the NYS legislature right now?  The GOP.

Another example of gerrymandering going on is with Erie County: http://www.buffalonews.com/city/politics/article434405.ece

The only plans being talked about greatly are the ones put forth by the political parties; both of which are looking to secure their power.  We need a logical, not a political method of creating districts.  Not something that keeps politicians in power, but rather one that keeps the citizens in power.