| What I'm talking about is a seemingly coordinated piece of kabuki theatre performed by a large cast of Republican State Senators.
Let me set the scene.
The Brennan Center has pointed out that New York State has THE most dysfunctional state government in the country, and lays most of the blame at the feet of the State Senate. Some have said, and quite appropriately, that the "Senate is where reform goes to die." A quick read of their report will bear this out.
This past November, the Republicans got their clock cleaned by Eliot Spitzer and the Democrats on the Congressional level. Essentially, they ran on reform, reform and more reform and the public responded.
The State Senate and Assembly got a pass. It is difficult, after all, to defeat incumbents who have spent decades blocking election reform legislation and institutionalizing incumbency perks by making it legal to use tax-payer money and lobbyist's largess to fund their campaigns. It's what they do and why reform is so needed in the first place.
But this time, New Yorkers are noticing and demanding accountability and transparency. This past inauguration week has been all reform all the time, led by the charismatic and new power player, Governor Spitzer.
Change is coming, and if you're a State Senator who has spent decades protecting your power, rejecting common sense reform, writing deceit into law and doling out millions of secret slush fund dollars to buy your constituent's favor while abdicating your role as the people's representative and handing all your power over to Joe Bruno just so you can receive more slush money from him to buy yet another election, what do you do? Well, you're left with one alternative. You call yourself a reformer and publicly breath a sigh of relief that now you can finally get those long needed reforms passed.
Get ready to laugh. Here come the quotes from released statements:
From Joe "The Glitch" Bruno himself:
We will not be guided by politics or partisanship.
(--snip--)
Finally, there will be accountability in the system (--snip--) (New Yorkers) also have a right to expect their government to be open and accountable.
From Senator Steve Saland:
The Governor maintains his commitment to making State government more open and accountable. This vital proposal builds upon the Legislature's recent reform efforts to strengthen transparency and accountability in order to reform State government.
From Senator Jim Wright:
I look forward to working with the new Governor and my fellow members of the Legislature to make government more open, transparent and accountable. And I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner to achieve results for the people of New York State.
From Senator Catharine Young:
And the Senate will work for reforms to make government more open and accountable -- including our plan to clearly line out every dollar of spending in the State budget by the Governor, Legislature, Judiciary and every State agency and authority -- to increase openness and transparency in State spending.
It's my inclination not to believe any of this rhetoric. This is theatre. This is politics. This is just more of the same that has gotten us here. I, for one, do not trust these "new" reformers. I, for one, do not trust the very people who have broken the system to fix it. |
