Candidate Proposes Law to Prevent Midterm Party Changes by Legislators 
Anna Lewis, Attorney, and Candidate for State Senate in New York's 31st District, has outlined several measures designed to reform state government. Her plans include strengthening fiscal oversight, establishing independent, non-partisan commissions on redistricting, ethics and the budget, and the passage of a law preventing lawmakers from changing their party affiliations. Speaking to voters on West 187th Street in Washington Heights, Anna Lewis remarked, "I want to create a law making it illegal for legislators to change parties during their terms. The coup in the Senate was made possible solely because a few lawless politicians changed parties. This was a betrayal of the people who voted for them, a betrayal of the State, and a betrayal of democracy." When questioned on the proposal's constitutionality, Ms. Lewis answered, "My campaign collected over 11,000 petition signatures through the hard work of many volunteers. Voters signed a contract with the intention that I run as a Democrat and serve them as a Democrat, and would not have if I ran to be the candidate of another party. I owe them the commitment to serve as they intended, because the constitutional rights of the many eclipse the political expediency of the few." Lewis said her law would allow legislators to change parties at the inception of the nominating process for reelection, "If candidates wish to run for re-election to be the nominee of a different party they will have the right to do so." The law will in no way regulate lawmakers' voting or legislative decisions while in office. The candidate also expressed support for establishing an Independent Redistricting Commission to draw congressional and state legislative lines apart from the Legislature: "I support removing redistricting power from the hands of the Legislature, and placing it in those of an independent commission. The 31st District is a prime example of the failure of our current process. In an attempt to aid in Eric Schneiderman's electoral defeat, State representatives outlined a district that stretches from West 79th Street on the Upper West Side to Northern Riverdale in the Bronx, in an effort to manipulate the ethnic composition of his constituency. The unsuccessful scheme resulted in a district so geographically, economically and culturally diverse it no longer exists as a cohesive portion of the State, but is instead made up of several distinct and separate areas, with little in common on a local level." She added, "Representative borders should not be determined by thuggish political intentions, but instead by geographic, as well as economic and demographic considerations." Ms. Lewis suggested similar independent commissions on ethics and budget making. A former Counsel to the State Assembly's Committee on Oversight, Analysis and Investigation, Ms. Lewis also proposed stronger Senate oversight to "root out fraud, mismanagement and waste." While with the Committee she became "well aware of the abuse that can happen when contractors and government collude to take advantage of taxpayer funds."
An Attorney for 26 years, Anna Lewis serves as a prosecutor with New York State's Health Department, where she prosecutes physicians for professional misconduct, including cases involving insurance fraud, negligence and the sexual abuse of patients. She resides on the Upper West Side.