Rick Karlin of the Times Union reports that in answer to state Senate Republicans recent moves to redistrict New York in its own interests, Gov. Andrew Cuomo offered a bill on February 17 to reform the partisan practice of gerrymandering, or letting lawmakers draw legislative districts that work to their advantage. Cuomo's Redistricting Reform Act of 2011 would set up a system that aims to appoint what it describes as a non-partisan commission to perform the once-in-a-decade task of redrawing legislative boundaries that conform to population changes outlined in the U.S. Census. The new 11-person Independent Redistricting Commission as envisioned by Cuomo would draw up legislative as well as congressional districts. Furthermore, the plan conforms to the concept laid out by former New York City Mayor Ed Koch through his New York Uprising group, which Cuomo and a majority of lawmakers last fall pledged to support. And whose possibility of non-support led Koch to suggest he'd starting setting state legislators pants ablaze should they renege on their promises. Now to see how this plays out, and whether Cuomo will actually have to veto some plan coming out of the Senate's Republican majority.