Is a member of the same political party or organization eligible to the office of police commissioner?

I come, then, to the provision that no person is eligible to the office of police commissioner unless at the time of his election he is a member of the political party or organization having the highest or next highest representation in the common council. The effect of this provision is to exclude from eligibility all persons who do not belong to one or the other of the great political parties of the country. This is the practical disfranchisement of a numerous class of citizens, and violates the constitution (article 1, 1). I do not refer to legislative limitations requiring skilled knowledge in the appointee when the duties of the position call for it, as that situation would present a very different question, even if the constitution was silent as to the qualifications of the officer. The case at bar presents an instance of the arbitrary and unexplained exclusion of a considerable number of the citizens of Albany from the class eligible to fill the office of police commissioner. No sufficient reason has been suggested for such legislation. In Barker v. People, 3 Cow. 686, the court of errors, in construing the penal provisions of an act to suppress dueling, had occasion to discuss this question of arbitrary exclusion from eligibility to office, and uses this language (page 703): Eligibility to office therefore belongs not exclusively or especially to electors enjoying the right of suffrage. It belongs equally to all persons whomsoever, not excluded by [150 N.Y. 503]the constitution. I therefore conceive it to be entirely clear that the legislature cannot establish arbitrary exclusions from office, or any general regulation requiring qualifications, which the constitution has not required.