Beware the Gerrymander

Common Cause Drawing Lines

For Legislative Redistricting,

LATFOR Holding Hearings

Writing a blog has many satisfactions. One can share information and opinions with thousands of people who have elected to receive them. One can affect the public's view of issues. On some occasions, one can publish material previously unknown or unconnected to the larger universe of public policy issues.

A blog also has its frustrations. The blogger can draw conclusions and make proposals, in a loud or soft voice, but there is no assurance that anyone will do what he recommends. In most cases, there is a reason that officials will not do what you suggest. The most common reason is their own self-interest.

It is an ancient truism that the first law of nature is self-preservation. The thought was expressed elegantly by Andrew Marvell in 1675 in England in a metaphysical poem, "Hodge's Vision from the Monument".

"Self-preservation, nature's first great law,
All the creatures, except man, doth awe."

BTW, the gifted Marvell (1621-1678) is the author of another iconic couplet, well known for centuries:

"The grave's a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace."

The importance of self-preservation was doubtless in the minds of our ancestors, the cavepeople, whether they expressed that view in their speech or not. When one watches nature programs on public television, and sees the way animals treat, and eat, each other, the priority of survival for any living creature is evident.

The relevance of these observations to today's politics arises when we consider the decennial issue of redistricting. The Constitution of the United States (Art. I, Sec. 2) requires the enumeration of the population by means of a census to be taken every ten years (the first was in 1790), and the assignment of seats in the House of Representatives based on roughly equal districts. It is left to the state legislatures to draw the lines, either as a body, through a committee, or by taking recommendations from a group they appoint for that purpose, be it judicial, academic, nonpartisan or bipartisan.

New York State is historically noted for egregious gerrymandering. For roughly the last half century, the Assembly has been districted to elect Democrats, whereas the Senate lines favor Republicans. The steady growth in allegiance to the Democrats and the relative depopulation of upstate has made it increasingly difficult to draw Senate lines to keep the Republican Senate majority.

In 2008, the Democrats actually gained a Senate majority because of the high vote for President Obama. They managed their majority so shamefully and corruptly that the Republicans narrowly regained control in 2010. During the campaign, all the Republicans promised in writing to support an independent redistricting commission in order to win the approval of Mayor Koch and an organization he and others formed called New York Uprising.

After the Republican victory, owing in part to the use of the Koch pledge in their literature, they concluded that the independent commission they promised to support could not come into effect until the state Constitution was amended, an event that would not take place before 2013, at the earliest, and would not apply until the 2022 election. What happened, of course, was that once they had a majority, the Republicans repudiated their pledge, as it was no longer in their self-interest to honor it.

Governor Cuomo has repeatedly pledged to veto any districting plan that is not prepared by an independent commission. He does, however, leave himself some wiggle room by requiring that the plan be fair, reasonable and nonpartisan, without re-emphasizing the necessity for an independent commission.

To his credit, the Governor has stated that he does not believe that the committee of state legislators charged with statutory authority to draw the lines, the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment (LATFOR), can see past their own personal and political interests and create district boundaries that are equitable. LATFOR has so far had two hearings upstate, with another scheduled tomorrow in Albany. Five hearings will be held in New York City in September, one in each borough (Queens - Sept. 7; Bronx - Sept. 8; Brooklyn - Sept. 20; Manhattan - Sept. 21; and Staten Island - Sept. 22). Their locations have not yet been announced.

If the Governor vetoes a districting plan, it will be up to the legislature to sustain or override the veto. To override requires a two-thirds vote in each house, which means that both the Democratic and Republican leadership would have to agree on a plan. Enough legislators have signed the Koch pledge to sustain a Cuomo veto, but will they keep their word?

Another possible scenario is that, anticipating Governor Cuomo's veto, the Legislature will avoid the political consequences of overriding the Governor's honest and populist stance and instead stall as long as it can, perhaps until February 2012, before issuing its suggested lines.

The aim of this strategy would be for the legislature to make the case to the state or federal courts, which would be charged with drawing the lines in the event the state does not adopt any, that there would not be enough time before the April 24, 2012 primary date to come up with new lines, and thus there would be no alternative but to adopt the LATFOR lines.

To thwart this potential manipulation, Governor Cuomo should take Bill Samuels' suggestion and appoint a nonpartisan, independent commission now that would draw up equitable lines which the Governor would be comfortable adopting. This commission's recommendations would not be binding, nor would they carry official weight, but they would be valuable if the redistricting battle winds up in the courts, and the judiciary needs a viable alternative to the LATFOR lines to consider in a short period of time.

Common Cause New York deserves praise for the substantial labor that it is currently performing to create their own set of lines, drawn up according to the principles commonly held by good government groups. Basic fairness requires that legislative districts be compact, contiguous, equal in population, reflect communities of interest, and not be stacked, packed, hacked or cracked, which are terms used to describing either stuffing members of one group into a district in order to control it, or breaking up natural concentrations of people to diminish their power to elect a member of their group.

It will be interesting to see how different Common Cause's lines will be, when they are completed in the coming months, from the ones LATFOR ultimately draws. Close examination of the differences are likely to reveal the partisan self-serving motives of the legislators.

There is still a possibility that the Legislature will honor the pledge it made to Mayor Koch, the former mayors and governors who are part of New York Uprising, and Citizens Union, a leader in the struggle and the organizing force behind the ReShape New York coalition, of which New York Civic is a member, and hold a special session to appoint an independent commission in place of LATFOR. That is, however, highly unlikely as it would almost certainly frustrate the Senate Republicans's desire to maintain their majority, which they may lose unless President Obama's defeat in 2012 is as massive as his victory was in 2008.

There are many injustices in politics, such as the denial of ballot access to independent candidates, the use of technicalities in the election law to exclude legitimate candidates, the use of public resources by incumbents to promote their re-election, soliciting and securing campaign contributions from people and organizations candidates have assisted financially, usually with public funds, vacancies artfully created by timely resignations of incumbents, so the positions will be filled by special or midsummer elections with minimal voter turnout, and the prevention and suppression of primary elections through political or economic intimidation, not to mention old-fashioned voter fraud, such as multiple voting, and a variety of other 'dirty tricks'.

The struggle for clean elections and clean district lines are part of the effort to insure fair, open and honest elections so that the voters' choices will be respected. Unfortunately, insiders in the political system will often use every sort of chicanery to prevent a free election. In these contests, the insiders have a great deal at stake. It is their boodle, pelf and spoils that they are trying to preserve.

The voters have a right to choose their elected officials. The officials do not have a right to choose their voters, although in fact they try to do just that. Sometimes they even succeed. In New York State they usually do.

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" was said by Wendell Phillips in 1852, in a speech to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. That statement is still true today, and applies particularly to those who would tamper with the electoral process in order to gain private, personal or partisan preference.

The least one can expect in a competitive election is a map with clean district boundaries. Sadly, for far too many office holders, that is the last thing they want to see happen. We will watch closely for the next few months, looking out for attempts to manipulate the process. If the past is any indicator, machinations are likely to be attempted by those who hold legislative power. This is an early warning that there will be trickery afoot.

Greed Rules

Legislature Stalls on Ethics Reform

Despite Cuomo's Emphasis on Issue.

The Reason for Delay is Self-Evident:

Rules Would Impact Their Incomes.

We turn today to one of New York State's oldest oxymorons: Albany ethics. The legislature, having exhausted itself by adopting a budget on time, appears to be coasting toward a proposed June 20 adjournment. That would leave about three weeks for actions of substance. In the hopper are bills to limit increases in the property tax, to legalize gay marriage, to redraw the boundaries of Congressional and legislative lines districts, and to require the disclosure of legislators' clients and earnings in addition to their state salaries. Several hundred matters of local importance also await action by the two houses.

One important proposal is in limbo. Governor Cuomo has sent an ethics package to the Senate and the Assembly, and is speaking up for it on a statewide tour. We quote from his statement:

"New York State government used to be a symbol of integrity and performance, but we have lost that standard. To clean up the government and restore trust with New Yorkers, we need to pass a new ethics law that mandates transparency and full disclosure as well as a law that calls for a real independent monitor.

"Among many reforms, the Governor's ethics reform agenda would:

* Require disclosure of clients doing business with the state that are represented by legislators before the state and disclosure of how much they get paid.

* Require the creation of an independent body to provide oversight and enforcement of ethics rules because, as we have seen in the past, self-policing does not work.

* Require lobbyists to disclose any business relationship with legislators in excess of $1,000.

* Strip pensions from those public officials convicted of a felony related to the abuse of their official duties."

The legislators have reacted to these proposals as an intrusion of roaches would to a can of Raid, or, if you prefer to avoid product placement, as Dracula would to a crucifix.

The current pretext for Speaker Silver's opposition to ethics reform is that creating an independent body to enforce ethics rules would interfere with the Assembly's exclusive authority to discipline its members, and therefore violate the principle of separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. This excuse is comparable to the Senate's belated discovery, after all the Republicans signed pledges to support an independent redistricting commission, that such a panel could only be created by an amendment to the State Constitution which takes two years to adopt, and therefore could not take effect until after the 2020 census.

These "reasons" are so spurious as to be amusing, were it not for the fact that those who offer them dominate their legislative bodies, and, in any event, are acting in the interest of their members who also desire to avoid detection of and prosecution for conflicts of interest that may be engendered by their extra-curricular activities. They do not want to go without the undisclosed loose change that they may pick up either for their acts or their failure to act, depending on the needs of the client. Some of our solons are versatile; one could even say subtle. Many of them are hungry.

There are also principled and honest elected officials in the Legislature, most of whom have little or no power. If they speak too loudly, they risk decapitation by their masters. But to be fair, it is only when a politician attains authority on his own that his ethical standards may truly be tested. Most never reach that stage, and their principal vice turns out to be remaining silent in the face of outrage. They feel that, by keeping quiet, they will advance to positions where they will be able to use their influence in the public interest. "As luck would have it" (Rule 17-A), the few salmon who swim that far upstream forget the high principles they espoused as alevin, fry, parr and smolts.

Around the state, the media are getting sick and tired of the legislature's evasion, procrastination and rationalization.


Today, Bill Hammond of the Daily News expresses his disgust at the situation in a column on p27 entitled "YOUR OUTCRIES, THEIR DEAF EARS: The Public's Priorities Couldn't Be Clearer; Albany's Arrogance Couldn't Be More Profound." Hammond asks, rhetorically: "How much louder do the people of New York have to scream before the Legislature starts listening?


"The people overwhelmingly elected Gov. Cuomo with a mandate to fundamentally change how their infamously dysfunctional state government does business.


"The people overwhelmingly back Cuomo's top two priorities - cleaning up Albany sleaze and stemming relentless property tax hikes - as repeatedly documented by opinion polls.


"Yet the elected officials who supposedly represent those people stymie and stall, balk and bluster - and accomplish nothing. They're hunkered down in the Capitol bubble, deaf to their constituents' unmistakable outcry for reform." You can click here for the rest of Hammond's powerful column, which makes enormous sense to us.


This month, The Utica Observer-Dispatch editorial page articulated similar frustrations, as did The Albany Times Union.

A 2011 report, written for the Brennan Center for Justice by Lawrence Norden, Kelly Williams and John Travis and entitled MEANINGFUL ETHICS REFORM FOR THE 'NEW' ALBANY, encapsulates the long-ignored complaints of New York State's good government groups. It includes a list of the 14 members of the Legislature who have been indicted, convicted or pleaded guilty to crimes in the last decade.

Those of you looking for fresh scandal may be disappointed by this article. The leaders of the Senate and Assembly, reflecting the fears and feelings of many of the members, support unlimited outside income for themselves, even though the handsome but undisclosed legal fees they demand and receive for their representation of clients doing business with the state are in fact often rewards for their political influence and access.

Those who represent plaintiffs are particularly shameless in shaping legislation for their personal benefit and fighting any proposal which could have a negative effect on their incomes. In matters of the purse, they fight with the tenacity of the National Rifle Association, keeping their cold, dead hands on their moneybelts.

Mayor Koch has attempted to breach this old boys' network with New York Uprising. Other groups have fought for reform for generations. Saints Matthew and Mark remind us that the poor will always be with us. The same applies to the predators, people who use public office for personal enrichment, while possessing the political power to make certain that the tainted transactions by which they do this are totally legal, under the laws they adopt.

We believe that, eventually, justice will prevail, and elected officials will no longer be able to receive secret income, particularly from those who have matters pending before the State of New York. The City Charter inhibits such transactions; the State Legislature should do no less.

In the interest of your health, however, we advise you not to stand on one leg until the legislators succumb to the pangs of conscience, if any. Your interest in these matters is idealistic and intellectual. Theirs is personal. You vote once or twice a year, depending on primaries. They vote hundreds of times on bills, and there is a reason for each vote they cast: it can be the merits of an issue, submission to a leader, ignorance, naivete or self-interest. Motives vary with each vote and each legislator. The aggregate is an unwholesome brew.

The Book of Andrew

Cuomo's Plan for New York:

Restore Trust, Accountability

Our article Friday evening predicted some reform positions Andrew Cuomo was likely to take when he announced his candidacy for governor.

We were pleased and surprised Sunday to read of his support for the entire reform agenda, and his intention to ask candidates for the legislature to commit themselves to his proposals. It is more productive to seek promises from candidates than from incumbents.

The idea of starting a campaign with a 224-page book of proposals is both novel and striking. It lays out an agenda for action in many areas which is unprecedented. It dwarfs the research efforts of other candidates. It shows that his people are familiar with, and have proposals to deal with, long-standing issues.

To those of us who follow state politics, the news appears too good to be true. But only time will tell how much impact a strong governor will have on the dysfunctional legislature. Our high hopes four years ago at the inauguration of Eliot Spitzer were dashed by the convergence of Spitzer's arrogance, intransigence and vulgarity.

David Paterson was overwhelmed both by his own errors and indecision, and by defenders of the status quo who did not share his goals. Cuomo, if he is elected, will be the third governor in a row to attempt to govern in fact as well as under the law. The first two sadly failed.

We will watch and wait. The hopes of civic organizations, reformers and good government groups ride with candidate Cuomo and his promises. Some of his proposals can be implemented directly by the governor. Others require legislative approval. We believe that Cuomo means what he says. We hope that he has the strength and courage to carry out the reform program he is supporting.

There is substance as well in his plans; no new taxes, a freeze on state employees' salaries, fiscal responsibility, consolidation of agencies and downsizing of government. One practice that should end is the imposition of unfunded legislative mandates on cities and counties. Another is the adoption of pension sweeteners by the legislature after unions have bargained collectively and reached agreements with local governments.

New York State was once a leader in government. Laws first passed here were adopted in other states. We were a national model. In the last decade, however, state government has fallen into disrepute. The culture in Albany today is one of favoritism and greed. The legislature has been accurately described as the most dysfunctional in the United States. The Senate is a house of anarchy and the Assembly a house of tyranny, although its members voluntarily submit.

2010 offers an opportunity for change. We cannot wait until January 2011 for "Day One. Everything Changes." We must think of Day One as May 22, the day the Cuomo crusade was launched.? We will get a sense how much he can accomplish even before the election.

The first major decision will be the choice of a candidate for Lieutenant Governor. We do not believe a background in politics should be a prerequisite for this position. Neither should it be a disqualification. The choice should not be made primarily on the basis of gender, ethnicity or geography, although those factors should not be ignored. One factor which was not apparently considered in 2006 was the ability of the candidate to govern, in the event his/her services in that role should be required.

In the recent past, governors have not had much luck in filing this position on the ballot. One lieutenant governor, Al DelBello resigned in the middle of his term because he felt he had nothing to do.? Two others, Mary Anne Krupsak and Betsy McCaughey (Ross) became alienated from their governors and ran against them.? Both women lost.

For this year, Cuomo may be seeking a different kind of nominee.? If he does so, it would be wise.

Ken Lovett of the Daily News reported Sunday: "A source close to Cuomo seemed to send [a] signal last week when he [said], 'This will not be a political pick.? It's about whether this person has competence and integrity and whether he or she is ready to be governor if something should happen.'"

If Lovett's source is correct, that would be good news.? It would also set a precedent in the selection of a lieutenant governor.? By the time you read this, the choice will be made and may have become public.? It will be the first test of Andrew Cuomo's judgment and the qualities he values.?? All New Yorkers should join us in hoping for the best.

THE UPRISING CONTINUES

On a parallel track of seeking pledges of support, Sam Roberts reported in today's Times on the activities of New York Uprising: GROUP FOR IMPROVING ALBANY SENDS PLEDGES TO CANDIDATES.? His lede: ?

"A civic coalition seeking to improve how Albany governs is asking incumbents and candidates for state office this year to pledge publicly to back strict fiscal controls on state spending, stronger ethics and financial disclosure regulations, and a nonpartisan system for drawing legislative and Congressional districts.

"The coalition, called New York Uprising, will not formally endorse candidates, but will publicly recognize those who signed with 'a sign of approval'?

"Former Mayor Edward I. Koch, who was instrumental in creating the coalition, said he believed those who signed would honor their commitment. If they renege, Mr. Koch said, 'we will be hounding them.'"

StarQuest #672 05.24.2010 897wds

Incumbents Imperiled

Voters Want Change,

But Few New Yorkers

Are Entering Politics

By Henry J. Stern
May 19, 2010

Today, Wednesday, May 19, the New York State budget is 49 days late, but who's counting?

AN ABBREVIATED ALMANAC

The gold rush to California in 1849 inspired the name of the San Francisco football team, the 49ers. The East Coast equivalent is the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team, which recalls the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 in a place also called the City of Brotherly Love.

The 49th state to be admitted to the union was Alaska. Statehood came in January 1959, just 92 years after the United States, through Secretary of State William H. Seward, purchased the land from the Russian Empire under Czar Alexander II for $7.2 million, which is a trifle less than two cents per acre. The state's area is 586,412 square miles, which is more than twice the size of Texas. The Census Bureau estimated its population in 2009 as 698,473. That is about 1.2 people per square mile.

We report to you on intercontinental visibility, which has been a public issue. On a clear day, it is possible to see across the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia, but only from Little Diomede Island, which is 2 1 /2 miles from Big Diomede, part of Russia.

The Diomedes are located in the middle of the strait between the two countries. Little Diomede is home to about 170 Inuits of the Inupiat tribe. Big Diomede had an Inuit population as well, but they were deported by the Soviet authorities to the mainland, and the larger island now has a military presence. So saith Wikipedia.

VOTERS SHOW THEIR DISCONTENT

As the mainstream press has reported, the voters in primary states showed their discontent with incumbent politicians by the defeat of Senator Arlen Specter in Philadelphia and the victory of Dr. Rand Paul, son of Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, a former Presidential candidate. The relatively poor showing of Senator Blanche Lincoln in the Arkansas Democratic primary has been called another example of the unpopularity of officeholders, although other issues were involved in her contest. Nationwide polls have repeatedly shown a low level of confidence in public officials, as well as a desire for change.

WHAT ABOUT NEW YORK?

For years, we have known that New York State has one of the most dysfunctional legislatures in the United States. The mutiny in the Senate last summer left no winners; the month-long spectacle, ending with victory for the pirates, was an embarrassment to both parties. This year the Assembly appears unusually supine. The inability of both houses and the governor to agree on a budget is but the most recent example of failure to transact business in a timely and reasonable manner.

One would think that with the failures of the legislature and the wave of discontent with the incumbents, there would be many newcomers challenging the status quo. However, there appear at this time to be relatively few, which means that most incumbents, unpopular as some may be, are likely to be re-elected.

The ballot access requirements in New York State are formidable, and designed to exclude competitors who do not have the support of political machines. To run for the Assembly, one must collect 500 valid signatures of voters in the party and in the district, and for the State Senate the requirement is 1000 signatures. In the past, many signatures have been excluded on technical grounds, or on some defect in the witnessing of the signatures. People who sign petitions can be dragged into court by hostile attorneys to explain the circumstances of their signing. The expensive and time-consuming process of defending petitions works a hardship on candidates with limited resources who are less well known than incumbents.

Although the facade is one of democracy and free and open elections, the reality is that it is difficult and costly to challenge an entrenched politician. Nonetheless it can be done. Many people would vote for change if they had an alternative to the incumbent.

It is said that incumbents are difficult to defeat, but in most cases this is conjecture. In fact, we do not know how vulnerable the majority of incumbents truly are, because no one attempts to run against them. If incumbents are impossible to topple, why do party machines across the nation go to great lengths to deter candidates from challenging their officeholders in primaries?

We do not endorse candidates or urge specific individuals to run or not to run for public office. But in America, people do have the opportunity to compete to try to effect change. The work of Mayor Ed Koch and New York Uprising in securing pledges to support reform from candidates for public office is an example of what can be done by individuals who unite to seek change.

The first day to collect signatures this year is June 8; the last day to submit them to the Board of Elections is July 15. Candidates are advised to collect at least twice as many signatures as required, preferably three times, because names may be challenged and signatures invalidated by opposition attorneys and operatives. If you are inclined to run for public office, and you have enough friends to help you, the stars are aligned.

Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their state.

They Can't Work It Out

Three Men In a Room

Nowhere to Be Seen,

Budget 37 Days Late

By Henry J. Stern
May 7, 2010

Today, Friday, May 7, is the 37th day the State of New York has been without a budget. The state's fiscal year begins April 2, and a tenth of it has now passed, with the state relying on emergency extensions to avoid a shutdown.

There is still no sign that a resolution of the budget impasse between the governor, the senate and the assembly is imminent, so it is difficult to predict how long it will be before a budget is agreed upon.

The delay causes particular hardship to municipalities and local school boards, which normally adopt their own budgets in May or June and are dependent on state aid, which in many cases is a return of the taxes paid to the state by people in those localities.

This year, because of the Great Recession (lower revenues and steadily increasing labor, and health and pension costs) the budget gap is higher than ever. The state gap is now between nine and ten billion dollars, and New York State's finances are comparable to those of Greece, or California. The State Senate has shown itself more amenable to budget reductions than the Assembly, which is more responsive to public employee unions. However, neither house is anywhere near a balanced budget, and it is likely that there will be a resort to backdoor borrowing, illegal and irresponsible as that may be.

The fact is that there is a structural gap in both city and state budgets. In this case, structural means chronic. In good economic times, government may come close to breaking even. But the general tendency in periods of prosperity is to increase expenditures, which make government particularly vulnerable when times turn bad. There is always more pressure on government to spend than to save, and politicians, constantly eager to please constituencies, support programs that the state cannot afford to fund.

The press will cover the budget machinations as deadlines approach and are passed without action. This year the trichotomy--a lame-duck governor and two houses with their own agendas--is unlikely to lead to harmonious resolution of differences. It may be, however, that when they tire of controversy and decide they would look better by reaching agreement, they will come to terms with each other.

Remarkably, as we are writing this, a bulletin has appeared on the computer monitor that the Marist Poll has found that New Yorkers are unhappy about the late budget. 47% of poll respondents said that the lateness of the budget worried them "a great deal." An additional 25% said it mattered "a good amount." When 72% of the public is concerned about the lateness of the budget, it could become a potent issue in the upcoming campaign.

The poll contains bad news for the Governor: only 31% of respondents claimed to be happy with his leadership on budgetary issues. Admittedly, this would be significantly worse news if he were still a candidate for office. He was wise to retire.

Link to the full results of the Marist poll here.

Other articles on the budget appear today on the illustrious illustrated blog, True News.

DIGRESSION: Marist is a college in Poughkeepsie, a city on the Hudson River about 80 miles north of New York, and county seat of Dutchess. Marist is one of four colleges in the region that poll on public issues, the others being Siena College in Loudonville, a suburb north of Albany, Quinniapac College, located in Hamden, CT, which is just north of New Haven, and Canisius College in Buffalo. Quinniapac is named for a local Indian tribe which was part of the Algonquin family.

The other three are Catholic colleges, named respectively for Mary, the mother of Christ; St. Bernardino Siena, an Italian monk from the town of Siena, which itself was named for Senius, the son of Remus, who was the twin brother of Romulus (who killed Remus, much as Cain slew Abel); and St. Peter Canisius, a 16th century Jesuit.

The polling done by these colleges is non-sectarian and well regarded as a public service.

On Tuesday, May 4, Mayor Koch visited Albany and spoke with legislative leaders in both houses on behalf of redistricting reform through the selection of a nonpartisan commission to redistrict the state. Koch heads New York Uprising, a citizens group formed this year to fight gerrymandering, secure a balanced budget and tighten ethics rules in Albany. The organization intends to ask candidates for the legislature to sign pledges to support these reforms, and to publicize the names of both signers and nonsigners.

Enjoy the weekend.