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Spitzer to Unveil Legislative Agenda at Reform Day

by: phillip anderson

Wed Apr 18, 2007 at 11:14:49 AM EDT

Here's another great reason to get on the bus for reform this Monday. Governor Spitzer will announce his legislative agenda at Reform Day in Albany. It's a pretty ambitious list and an issue dear to my heart is at the top of the list, campaign finance reform. The governor will propose CFR legislation that, in his words, will "put New York in the lead of states around the nation." Also on Spitzer's to do list: judicial pay raises, Wick's Law reform and the ~~Bruno~~ NYRA franchise. Elizabeth Benjamin at the Daily Politics has more:

Spitzer's Legislative Agenda

At the top of Spitzer's to-do list is campaign finance reform, which he called "the most significant remaining piece of reform legislation." The governor said he will propose a bill next Monday that will "put New York in the lead of states around the nation" in this arena.
Also on Monday, Spitzer plans to release the details of a proposal to reform the state's notoriously shadowy authorities, which make up the state's so-called "shadow government," operating with very little oversight. The authorities have long been considered patronage dumping grounds and have been the site of numerous scandals in recent years.
Spitzer said he will be proposing a constitutional amendment to change the state's redistricting process, which is currently controlled by the state Legislature. New York's legislative districts are gerrymandered to give incumbents on both sides of the aisle the best chance of retaining their seats. Spitzer said he expects this will be "a heavy lift for legislators," who are now acting "out of what might be viewed as narrow self-interest."

More on the flip...

phillip anderson :: Spitzer to Unveil Legislative Agenda at Reform Day

As for what is not on the list:

One notable issue that's missing from this list: Same-sex marriage.
During the 2006 campaign, Spitzer pledged to introduce a bill that would legalize gay marriage and also said he would sign such a bill into law if one ever reached his desk.
Asked why gay marriage didn't make the cut, Spitzer replied:

"There are many things that we will do in due course that are not on the list now. These are the bills that I think can and should be acted on in the next few weeks."

To be fair, during the campaign, Spitzer said that gay marriage would become the law of the land after he pushes it in...2008.

I'm curious to see the governor's CFR bill. A plan that truly puts New York in "the lead of states around the nation" would be essentially a Clean Money Clean Elections type piece of legislation. Will the Steamroller go that far? I guess we'll see.

I'm also interested in seeing Spitzer's redistricting bill. In his state of the state address, he said that he would veto anything less than independent nonpartisan redistricting. That's certainly what I want, but will the Legislature actually deliver something like that? Good question.

I have my doubts.

Tags: Eliot Spitzer, Reform, Reform Day, (All Tags)

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Spitzer to Unveil Legislative Agenda at Reform Day | 1 comments

I, Too, Have Serious Doubts (4.00 / 2)

I know that the big priority for the ealier portion of the legislative calendar was getting a budget into place reasonably on time, but April 23 seems awfully late in the legislative session to be introducing a whole series of reform measures, given that the Senate and Assembly are scheduled to adjourn on June 21. That's not nearly enough time to give full consideration to such important changes, which to me means that either:

* Spitzer isn't really much more serious about reform than was Pataki, and this is being offered for public consumption in the expectation that the clock will simply run out; or

* A deal will be negotiated among the Three Men in a Room, with the rest of the legislature and the citizenry of New York State kept pretty much in the dark until after all the details have been worked out.

If the governor were truly interested in getting this reform package passed, he wouldn't be waiting until a major event to drop the proposals in everyone's laps; rather, drafts would have been extensively circulated among entities such as the Brennan Center, Common Cause, and even TAP. Once again, we are forced to wait on bended knee for the grace of the benevolent leader.

by: The Maven @ Wed Apr 18, 2007 at 15:49:07 PM UTC