Throw the Bums Out (Downstate Edition)

by: Roatti

Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 21:58:52 PM EDT

There is a general political consensus that our legislature is the worst in the country.  

This Tuesday, unless your incumbent legislator is personally known to you to be a genuine reformer (2 names come to mind: Senator Bill Perkens and Assemblyman Jim Brennan), vote for the challenger.  Here are some endorsements in selective races.

SD-25:

This primary pits newcomer Dan Squadron against longtime incumbent and former Senate Minority Leader Martin Connor.  Connor was sacked by his conference in 2002 because of his perceived failure to challenge the Republicans agressively enough either in the caucus or at the ballot box.  

On some level, Connor is probably a well-intentioned Democrat but after 32 years in office, typical Albany behavoir that reeks of conflict of interest has become second-nature to him.  

28-year-old Squadron is promising to make significant reforms to the Albany game.   He is has also refused to accept PAC, corporate, and lobbyist money for his campaign.  

Volunteer for Dan Squadron

AD-64:

This race pits one of the "three men in a room," co-Governor Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver against 2 young challengers, Paul Newell and Luke Henry.  Silver is most likely going to be re-elected despite a career that includes lowlights like never spending an single dime of his campaign contributions to help a Senate Democratic challenger, presiding over one house of the aforementioned "worst legislature in the nation," responding to allegations of rape by a female legislative aide against one of his staffers by holding a press conference in support of that staffer  and keeping the staffer until he pleaded guilty to sexual assault a few years later, and killed the congestion pricing issue without even affording the voters of New York the dignity of seeing where their legislators stood on the issue after taking many campaign contributions from parking garages and auto dealers.

It's too bad Shelly has 2 challengers who will likely split the opposition vote.  Of those 2 challengers, Paul Newell is the stronger one.  In the last filing he raised $40,015 to Henry's $510.  He has deep roots in the district and is waging an energetic campaign.  Newell has been endorsed by the New York Times, the Daily News, the Downtown Express, the Villager, and has the necessary grassroots operation to even have a chance of pulling off the upset of Silver.  It's time to send a message to Albany that the ridiculousness ends now, with a strong message to the upper eschelons of power. Justin Sullivan, a filmmaker, is making a documentary about this race- let's give that movie a happy ending.  

Volunteer for Paul Newell

NY-10:

This congressional primary pits longtime Democratic Congressman Edolphus Towns against former "Real World" star and activist, Kevin Parker.  Towns had some serious "wtf" votes considering he represents one of the most Democratic districts in the country, including his vote for the Bankruptcy Bill and for CAFTA.  On the Bankruptcy Bill alone, Towns deserves to lose his job.  Powell has a compelling life story and appears he will be a good representative for Brooklyn's 10th District.  

Volunteer for Kevin Powell

SD-32:

The "Democratic" incumbent Ruben Diaz Sr. is an outspoken homophobe and anti-choice crusader. He is so conservative on social issues, he was dripping with praise for Sarah Palin last week. He is also  running for the Republican nod in Tuesday's primary. He had one primary opponent who was knocked off the ballot.  Please write-in that opponent, Luis Monge.  

Elsewhere: As mentioned earlier, our legislature is the worst in the country.  Unless you can personally vouch for your incumbent legislator (there are maybe 5 or 10 incumbents that deserve to be re-elected), vote for the challenger.  It's time for some long-overdue accountbility in Albany.  

Governor Paterson Backs Silver

by: BingChester

Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 09:11:49 AM EDT

Oh, to be an Incumbent Legislator

by: Roatti

Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 02:05:56 AM EDT

Lack of Competition

As of now, only 23 out of 65 Assembly seats and 11 of 35 State Senate seats in New York City are set to have a primary on Sept 9. This is the number of districts where more than one candidate has filed petitions seeking his or her party's nomination. The number will almost certainly shrink as candidates challenge one another's petitions.

(snip)

With years of practice, New York's party organizations have mastered the art of using of rules and laws to help incumbents and party favorites to win.

(snip)

Experts have offered a multitude of policy recommendations to make New York's primaries and elections more open. These include drawing districts to make them more competitive in the general election, campaign finance reform and allowing voters to register on Election Day or to vote in either party primary. But for this year, with few primaries, and many seemingly already decided, voters will have to stand by as New York politicians enjoy the power of incumbency.

It's a great article- you should all go read the whole thing.  A while back I wrote a diary supporting term limits in the legislature.  However, I never expect legislative term limits to become law in New York, absent a constitutional convention that allows statewide referenda by voters (citywide referendum was the only way term limits were imposed on NYC offices).  

But I do expect the 2010 legislative elections to be more competitive, when a slew of term-limited NYC-council members will at least create several competitive primaries to legislators who represent NYC.  Also, hopefully that time we will have had a Democratic Senate for two years and the local progressive movement can put all of our efforts into primaries without having to worry too much about the general election.

Imagine 80%

by: simonstl

Tue Apr 15, 2008 at 16:24:47 PM EDT

I know this is crazy and utopian, but imagine a world in which a mere 80% of incumbent state legislators won re-election.

That would give legislators decent odds at serving four or five terms, and some odds of serving much longer before losing to a challenge - either from another party or from someone within their own party.

Remember, the current rate is (depending on who I ask, about what year), 95%-98%. This would be a four to ten times increase in the number of legislators who depart involuntarily, a change from, to quote Bill Parment:

Stanley Fink told me. He said there only two ways to end a legislator’s career: One is undefeated, the other is unindicted.

80% implies a lot of changes. It suggests an electorate that has the power to make changes, not simply go along with whatever incumbent was gerrymandered into their district. It suggests political parties that know they need to include voters and keep their interest, rather than just endorse the same-old same-old. (More contested primaries and caucuses, more contested races in general.)

It opens the gates for municipal and county officials to look ahead in their careers to some possible time in Albany. If you think of the perpetual re-election of incumbents in Albany as a ceiling halting the upward movement of those not in the charmed circle, you can see how a mere 80% re-election rate for legislators might have major effects on the ambitions of those holding local office.

Perhaps my favorite part is that it might put an end to quotes like these:

"We have a legislative process that is insulting and demeaning to individual members, and isn't good from a public policy point of view," said Assemblyman John J. Faso, a Republican of Kinderhook. "But you have to wonder how much it matters. Our behavior gets worse every year, but it never seems to matter on Election Day."

Just imagine the possibilities!

Document Dump - State Senate Pork

by: phillip anderson

Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 19:37:21 PM EST

From Capitol Confidential:

Senate $ On The Web

The Senate majority has posted (on the day before Thanksgiving, no less) its Community Projects Fund Grants, (AKA Pork), on the Web.
Go to www.senate.state.ny.us. There you can look up projects from 2003-04 and 2004-05 that senators obtained funding for, be it Little League ballfield improvements, road projects etc.

Each project has a form which is signed by the requesting senator.

The information is listed under the Senate Reports link.

A note: The Times Union, joined by other media outlets, recently won a court fight to get details on these spending items.

The Senate stresses in a news release that the information has long been available through various state agencies, but reporters wanted to be able to trace spending items to individual lawmakers. Until now, that was no easy task.

Spending items for more recent years should be up soon, according to the Senate. 

One warning, the listing is VERY big and will take your computer a long time to open, if it can open it all. Also, because it was scanned, it isn’t really searchable and requires patient scrolling to find the item, senator or dollar amount you may be seeking.

I've spent the past hour even trying to open this pile o' pork with no luck. It's a mess and I have no doubt that it's a mess by design. I mean, we wouldn't want anyone to actually be able to use any of this information, now would we?

As someone in the comments at CC said, which media outlet will be the first (if any) to compile the heap of data into something more useful and user friendly? It's not like our employees in the state Senate are going to do it for us. No, they'd rather insult their employers for daring to even ask about what they are doing with our money.

So, who is going to make this pile of crap something that is even the least bit useful? If that sounds like a challenge, that's because, you know, it is.

Get to it.

It's a Racket, I Tell Ya

by: phillip anderson

Mon Nov 20, 2006 at 02:45:00 AM EST

Both parties in both chambers have spent generations building a massive and layered firewall against accountability to the voters. It's a massive affront to the democratic process and it serves no one but the legislators themselves.

From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

Incumbents cakewalk back to Albany

Legislators easily outspend and outpoll challengers

While much of the national political landscape is changing, there is one constant: The power and the people in the state Legislature will remain almost entirely the same.

And so goes the power of incumbency in a state Legislature that has a 98 percent re-election rate. The same trend held true this year, despite a national climate that produced a shift of power in Congress from Republicans to Democrats.