Chris Keeley

Pushing a Reform Agenda in Albany

On Tuesday, April 29, almost 200 Common Cause activists and allies gathered in New York's capital for "take your ethics to work day" in order to demand more of our state government. Recent scandal (after scandal after scandal) has only reinforced the urgent need for changes to the way Albany does business.

A paper in Binghamton underscored this last week when it wrote: "If ever there was a state government in need of [reform] it's ours, which has correctly been labeled the most dysfunctional in the land. Albany is to government what Britney Spears is to motherhood." Legislators, Blair Horner of NYPIRG pointed out, "have to do something to regain the trust of the public before facing them in November."

We gathered for Reform Day 2008 to offer legislators a way to regain that trust. We provided principles of a reform agenda, endorsed by dozens of organizations throughout the state, around which they could craft meaningful reforms. The broad issues for reform include changes to the way campaigns are financed, the way the legislature operates, how legislators are held accountable to the public, and termination of the partisan gerrymandering in New York State.

In a legislative atmosphere where majority rule controls legislators' access to basic tools like telephones and photocopiers, it is obvious that progress on just one of these issues would "be a step toward a more transparent state government."

Activists gathered and heard from some of Albany's elected representatives, among them Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the self-proclaimed "Sherriff of State Street." Attorney General Cuomo reported on the new policy implemented by his office which requires groups receiving discretionary funds from a state legislator to sign an affidavit swearing there is no conflict of interest between the organization and that granting legislator. Discussing these new safeguards and additional scrutiny he has brought to this funding stream, Cuomo quipped, "You're hard pressed to find a government program or private sector program that doesn't have some level of fraud." (See the video.)

We also heard from State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who came to office as the result of yet another scandal, and the State Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith. Comptroller DiNapoli discussed his proposal to establish the 2010 Comptroller election as a demonstration project for a public campaign financing plan with spending caps for the Comptroller's race. As the Democratic Party tries to obtain a majority in the NYS Senate this November, activists and advocates pressed Minority Leader Smith to make firm commitments on reform measures, if he does, in fact, become the Majority Leader after the votes are tallied on Election Day. He was specifically pressed to bring an end to partisan gerrymandering in New York and support an independent redistricting commission by Dick Dadey of Citizen Union.

After these speeches and "a carbalicious breakfast," over 20 teams of citizen-activists fanned out around the capital to push our own legislators for these changes. While some were disappointed that Governor Paterson did not partake in Reform Day 2008 officially, a number of activists did sit down with the governor's top advisor and, later in the day, many more took part in an impromptu meeting with the Governor himself. Governor Paterson modified a position he took the day prior, by informing activists that he would not object to a bill working its way through the State Assembly that would establish a voluntary system of public financing for state-level campaigns.

The governor also indicated that he would not follow the self-imposed campaign finance limits his former running, Eliot Spitzer, placed on their 2006 campaign. Our friends at the Brennan Center then wrote, "The question today is: do we fault Governor Patterson for breaking his predecessor's pledge? The short answer is no--with a giant but." The Albany Times-Union, though, was less understanding of this decision. "Translation: Raise the white flag," the TU wrote. "No more reform for us, at least not until 2011. What counts now is political survival."

Governor Paterson and the rest of Albany's leadership need to stand on the right side of history. It is more than reform that is needed in Albany; it's complete rehabilitation, plain and simple. The first step, as we all know, is to admit we have a problem and admit our state government has become unmanageable. Only then will we break ourselves from such terrible additions.

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Posted at 6:15 AM, May 12, 2008 in Governmental Reform
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