| It has been all well and good to sit back and laugh at the circus that is Albany. But I'm finding it harder and harder to join in.
We are faced with an extraordinary set of problems and the theatrics coming from the State Senate do nothing to help fix them.
Time to stop behaving like children, work together, and figure out how to make the State work in the short term and fix it in the long term.
Specific suggestions below the fold.
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Right now, no one in Albany looks good:
- Senators Espada and Monserrate have ignored the charge of their constituents from their most (very!) recent election and have chosen a path that can only be for their own personal benefit
- At least Senator Espada has been consistent; the flip-flopping of Senator Monserrate has mostly left the State confused about what actually is happening
- Tom Golisano can at best be looked at as an out-of-state meddler; but less charitably, he is a traitor to his state (for throwing a temper tantrum and leaving) and is proving to be the archetypical self-interested special interest
- Senate Republicans should be ashamed for their hypocrisy on reform; their sudden (but what looks to be tenuous) embrace of changes to Senate practices after forty years of iron-fisted rule; and for impeding the continued functioning of State government when we are in the midst of crises
- Senate Democrats should be embarassed that they built their coalition around two members who, by many accounts, may be convicted felons before the end of their terms; also, for failing to deliver reform in their five months, for failing to deliver useful legislation, and for failing to deliver, period
- The Governor has failed to show leadership throughout this (and, as the head of the Party in the State, failed to anticipate this crisis)-- granted, his self-inflicted foot wounds (the budget and Senate replacement appointment selection process) have impeded his ability to do so-- but he needs to figure out how
Enough already. Here's what you need to do-- for the good of the State-- in the short term and the long term.
You're not going to like it; it doesn't help any of you personally (in the end, it mostly throws you all out of work); but it's time to suck it up and do it because it's the right thing.
In the short term:
- Cooperate. Make a true coalition government through the end of the year. Put in place a limited but sensible agenda.
- That agenda should include a 20% cut in state spending and a 10% cut in state taxes. I don't know how. Figure it out. That's what you're paid to do.
- Then, focus on putting together an economic development plan for each of several regions in the state and push it through. Stop the theatrics. Put together something that makes sense.
- Take the "reforms" the Republicans "passed" last week, increase and improve them, give them teeth: remove the majority leader (of both houses) as a road block for members to introduce legislation, get rid of member items all together, equalize the resources and perks that members receive
- Pass a law and call a special election for November. Put each Senator up for election and elect a new Lieutenant Governor.
In the long term:
- Scrap the Senate (see, I told you that you wouldn't like it) and go to a unicameral legislature
- Enact non-partisan redistricting
- Pass clean money, clean elections to reduce the perception that you have to take "special interest" money in order to win elections in the state
- Provide for initiative, referendum, and recall to allow for citizen voice in government
Stop behaving like children. Grow-up, figure out what you need to do to start both healing (from the past week's injuries) and fixing (from our long-standing malaise) the state, and do it. That's what you were all elected to do.
Because the State is in trouble. Because we deserve better than you are giving us. Because we need you to be more functional than you are.
Because it matters.
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