Posted on 09/28/2004 4:12:30 PM PDT by neverdem
ALBANY, Sept. 27 - One group is making the radical proposal - for Albany - that lawmakers should not be allowed to vote on bills when they are not here.
Another group wants to do away with the partisan way legislative districts are drawn, a process that helps more than 98 percent of incumbents win re-election. Still another would rewrite the State Constitution to overhaul the budget process and eliminate one house of the Legislature.
These are not proposals of starry-eyed civic groups or woolly-headed academics, but calls from Democratic lawmakers, who this year are calling with uncommon candor for changes from within to New York's much-maligned state government.
The lawmakers are demanding overhaul even though their party controls the State Assembly. And as hidebound as Albany is, some officials say the failure to pass the state budget on time for 20 years in a row and the political gridlock that has left major problems unresolved have created a climate of voter resentment that could pave the way for such institutional change.
"A lot of the issues that people care about are not being addressed because of the dysfunction in Albany," said Dick Dadey, the executive director of the Citizens Union, a civic group founded decades ago to fight corruption in New York City. "It is no longer an Albany problem, but a voter-in-the-district problem."
Of course, for any of these proposals to be enacted, it will have to win approval from at least one, if not all, of the three men who control Albany: Gov. George E. Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Joseph L. Bruno, the majority leader of the State Senate. And while all three say they want reform, they never seem to agree on what reform they want.
Assemblyman Scott Stringer, a Manhattan Democrat, plans to introduce a resolution on Tuesday urging the Assembly to change its rules to address some of the criticisms that were raised this year when the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law rated the New York State Legislature the worst in the country.
That report found that the Legislature held public hearings on less than 1 percent of all major laws it passed from 1997 through 2001, and that 95 percent of those laws were passed without debate. It also found that New York has the only legislature in the country that routinely allows "empty-seat voting," through which lawmakers can be counted as voting on every bill even after they leave for the day.
Mr. Stringer's proposal, already supported by 17 other Assembly Democrats, would ban empty-seat voting, give committees more power and independence, and make it easier for lawmakers to get bills heard and voted on. "I think there's a recognition that we have to change the rules of the game to empower our constituents," Mr. Stringer said. "The call for reform has now reached a fever pitch."
Assemblyman Michael N. Gianaris, a Queens Democrat, is introducing a bill that would create a nonpartisan commission to draw the districts that lawmakers represent. Right now, the Democratic leadership of the Assembly controls the drawing of Assembly districts, and the Republican leadership of the State Senate controls the drawing of Senate districts. That system virtually assures incumbents' re-election, and a result has been that control of neither house has switched parties in three decades.
"It is important to remove even the suggestion of conflict in the redistricting process," Mr. Gianaris said. "There are those who suggest that members drawing their own lines every 10 years is done primarily for the purpose of protecting incumbents."
And earlier this month, Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester County Democrat, called for a sweeping series of amendments to the State Constitution. He proposed ending the practice of using less accountable public authorities, like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the New York State Thruway Authority, to do the business of government; ending gerrymandering; and eliminating one house of the Legislature to ease the passage of legislation.
All three men proposing changes to the system are considering runs for higher office. Mr. Gianaris and Mr. Brodsky are both preparing to run for state attorney general; Mr. Stringer is weighing a race for Manhattan borough president.
Some lawmakers said that the willingness of the three men to call for change might be an indication that they did not fear reprisal if they failed, or that it could show that ties to Albany, with its current reputation, could prove to be an albatross around their necks.
Several Democrats said Mr. Silver, the Assembly speaker, had indicated in closed-door party conferences that he was open to reform proposals. Bryan Franke, a spokesman for Mr. Silver, said, "Reform is a discussion that he is having with his colleagues."
But several proposals that Mr. Stringer and his group are offering would weaken Mr. Silver, by giving committee chairmen and chairwomen the power to hire their own staffs and making it easier for members to get their bills to the floor.
John E. McArdle, a spokesman for Mr. Bruno, the Republican Senate majority leader, said they would look at the proposals being made.
Mr. Dadey, of the Citizens Union, said he saw cause for optimism in the responses to a questionnaire his group had distributed to all 89 state lawmakers from New York City. Of the 39 who responded, he said, 36 agreed that "the way the State Legislature operates is in need of reform to make it more open, transparent and accountable."
Let me know if you want on or off my New York ping list.
Eliminating one house of the NY legislature sounds like a typical dumbocrat idea, when they have a 5 to 3 advantage in registered voters.
Pubbies in NY wouldn't do badly by getting a proportional awarding of electoral votes like Colorado is having a referendum on this November. I believe two states do it already. I think it's either Iowa or Nebraska in the Midwest and either Maine or New Hampshire in the New England.
I'm not saying to eliminate the electoral college. It's still a gift to states with smaller populations. Nominees now still get more electors for the buck in the smallest states. The cost of buying broadcast time in the biggest markets is higher than flyover country. It's up to each state how it selects its elector, IIRC.
I'm just tossing around the idea for NY with its lopsided registration, people of the right have no realistic reason to vote for president, not to mention all the other RINOs going for office.
Make that plural, electors.
Bicameral legislatures made sense under the old way of determining Senate seats (geographically) which was done away with by the Supreme Court. Now the state Senate is just an over glorified state House. I do not see the value of having both, since it is also proportional representation just like the house.
In NY it's still geographical to the best of my knowledge. The pubbies have had the NY State Senate, and the dems have had the NY Assembly since I can remember.
It is time for Republicans and conservatives to define ourselves and get the word out.
There is a reason for the lopsided registration...the folks on the right are leaving in droves.
Unfortunately the left is also doing the same and trying to take over other locations.
And guess which house the dems would want to eliminate.
There's also been a huge amount of foreign immigration. My old neighborhood in northern Manhattan doubled the number of public schools, and it's now about 50% Dominican, IIRC.
I'm born and raised Brooklyn, left when I was 22, spent 21 years in Delaware and left there last year because of the NY/NJ/PA/CT liberal migration.
Northern Delaware, where all the population is located, is nothing more than northeast liberal south.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.