| This morning's New York Times includes an editorial called A One-Party New York State that every Democrat should read.
The Times agrees wholeheartedly that Joe Bruno must go, but there's a problem: they don't particularly trust the Democrats with the power that will come from control of all three Men in a Room. Given that, they would really like to have to have a "counterweight" in Albany:
The ideal way to achieve that would be for moderate Republicans to adopt a mop and a broom as official symbols and become the party of reform. They could vow to clean up campaign finance and put in place tough new rules about legislators' outside employment.
But wait, you ask, shouldn't the Democrats be doing that? Isn't that, in effect, the original purpose of this very site? If I had things my way, the Times wouldn't have the room to suggest this credibly.
Alas, we Democrats haven't lived up to our reformist rhetoric. The editorial notes Spitzer's efforts to work around his reform promises, and the latest of Sheldon Silver's many missteps, appointing a senior partner from his outside-job firm to the judicial nominees panel.
I'm sure there are Democrats who'll read the piece and sputter "but we're going to win, and be better than Joe Bruno". Unfortunately, better than Joe Bruno is far too low a standard on many different levels, especially when the whole state may go to one-party rule. Sheldon Silver is also far too low a standard, and he's in our party.
The Times' conclusion seems to me like the story we should be telling, the actions we as a party should be taking - though I can't say it's likely to happen:
if the Democrats want voters to hand them one-party rule in November, they need to earn it.
That means upgrading the rules on ethics and elections. The governor should urge the Legislature to create a nonpartisan legislative redistricting commission, like the one Iowa uses. Fair mapmaking is a fundamental route to better government. New York is also long overdue for campaign finance reform. It needs a system with public financing, tighter limits on contributions and more transparency on reporting.
One-party rule in Albany could mean that important bills - on such issues as civil liberties and gay rights - long blocked by Republicans will become law. But giving one party so much power would require a leap of faith by voters. Now is the time for Democrats to show that this faith would be well placed.
Can we convince Democrats with power to change their ways? I believe that we will win the Senate this November - the hard question is what we'll do to earn New York State government the voters' trust once we're there. |
