Deals Come and Deals Go, But Politics is Forever

Well, i do have some good news to report today. It would seem that late yesterday a deal was struck, in the traditional way (3 men in a room), between the Assmebly, the Senate, and the Governor on how to address the fiscal crisis New York is in.

The 3 leaders met at the Governors mansion in albany last night and decided that 2.9 million would be cut from the deficit. Cuts would come from health care and the plan would also create a tax amnesty plan that is anticipated to be valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Go here for the article by the times union.

But lets get to the fun stuff, promptly after the agreement was reached Paterson released a statement that the agreement did not go far enough, and that he alone was standing up for what the people of the state of New York need.

Now i do not contest the idea that the Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Conferance Leader, Sheldon Silver and John Sampson, do NOT have the peoples best interests at heart. Why you ask, because it took them forever and day to do anything about a looming budget problem that they have known about for the better part of a year!

However, Paterson has made the mistake of criticizing forward movement. While movement should be made more quickly, and more efficiantly, progress should not be criticized. The attempt at helping the state move forward was made and that should be applauded, especially when the progress made is late in the making and hard to come by.

I do not want to make this sound like i am agreeing with the leaders of the legislature however. The legislature continues to be a puppet of the leaders and drag its feet on everything that needs to be done due to fear of political pressure. Man up and make the necessary change for the state!

Lazio….Really…Again?

I know it has been a while since i updated everyone. That would be becasue my Masters Program is consuming all the time i could possibly have to write anything about Albany. However, when i saw the news that Rick Lazio was going to enter the Gubnatorial Race I felt the need to get this in, for your sake and my own.

I want to start with Party has nothing to do with my critique of Lazio. Yes, he is a republican, and yes i am not all that fond of republicans. However, even i will admit when i see a a good politcian and a good leader. Rick Lazio is neither of these. Here is a man that runs for every political office in the state. Literally, i think since i have been alive i have seen more “vote for Rick Lazio” posters than anyone else. Yet, he never wins.

There has to be a reason for this…oh yeah, it’s because he is ingenuine and has bad ideas for the state. For example, he would like to eliminate one representitve body in the state. WTF???? We have a bi-cameral system in place for a reason. It ensures that everyone has a voice and ensures bills get vetted correctly. Then again this system can only work correctly when democracy works correctly, and we all know that has been a problem for a while now here in New York.

But suggesting we eliminate one legislative body because we are dysfuctional, at least in my view, is giving up on efficiant democracy. It is like when a car tire goes flat, normally a person would just get another tire…(get new legislators)…but Lazio suggests we eliminate an etire axel system and run the damn thing on two wheels. Does that make any sense at all…no, the answer is no, and i know some of you out there are saying but it will streamline the system and that will be good. Yes, it will make the process faster, but not better. Democracy is a slow process, always has been, always will be.

Nevermind that New York has a much too diverse population to do a single legislature. Think about that for a second…New York City has more people than the rest of the entire state, but they should only get one vote. Your right, that sounds reasonable Lazio. I know upstaters and down staters don’t always get along, and thats fine, we have very different needs. However, a single house would be pointless becasue then upstate would be the only one represented fairly. We need both houses to represent both areas.

On a nicer note…Lazio does support a constitutional convention, which i think should happen every chance we get. Sadly, he wants to drive the state into the hole. So, i must openly say that i can not and will not support Lazio…for anything, much less for Governor.

Oink Oink: The Pigs Gone Downstate

First let me start with I apologize to anyone who reads my blog regularly. I have not been posting as often as usual due to being out of town and being busy working two jobs.

With that said, lets discuss the loss of Pork (aka Member-items) to Upstate New York. Newspapers across the state are reporting that Upstate New York has seen a record loss in member item allocated dollars. Somehow this is a suprise to them.

Yes, it is undeniable that every single leader, Republican and Democrat, in the state houses are from downstate resulting in more money flowing to the city and surrounding areas. Yet this is not the sole reason why money is going downstate.

Pork dollars have begun to go downstate because downstate puts more money into the state. Overall downstate puts in way more in taxes than upstate. So, if they recieve more pork, it is not completely unexpected.

Also, Downstate is haveing a more severe recession then upstate areas. Now, i am not saying that upstate is not having problems, it is. However, the majority of people working downstate work in banks, on wall street, in short, the financial sector. This is where the biggest hurt happend. So, more of them are losing their jobs. Which means they will need more pork to support their municipal goings on.

More importantly, the question needs to be asked about how pork is allocated. Yes, it is unfair. Yes, some years minority members do not recieve the money they need. And yes, a new process is needed. Personally, i am not sure what that is.

However, if i had to take a stab in the dark it would be taking all the projects and members asking for pork and do a needs analysis for the community. I gurantee that if this is done less pork will be doled out and when it is it will have a larger impact. but thats just my thoughts…

Campaign Spending

The deadline passed to submit campaign contribution amounts for the fiscal year. Once again we get the chance to review how much our legislators are raising in order to reatain their seats. Which, this year, could be neccessary since they have performed so poorly.

However, the focus of this will be on the Andrew Cuomo and Governor David Paterson. Cuomo raised about 5.1 million in the last year while Paterson raised 3.7 million. Paterson outspent Cuomo though, spending 1.8 million this year while Cuomo spent only 600,000 dollars.

Cuomo has previously stated that he will not be attempting to run for the Gubnatorial position against Paterson, despite the fact that Cuomo has beaten Paterson in every poll since January. With these new numbers we can make a few assumptions though.

Paterson is spending money as fast as he can make it because he knows he will have to hit the ground running well ahead of any challanger. Paterson has taken serious flak on a myriad of issues, not all are his fault, such as current economic situations. However, he will still be held responsible for answering questions about the many mistakes he has made.

Cuomo on the other hand has remained fairly quite and out of the spotlight. Only coming forward when his opinion was needed or demanded. He has quitly been raising a war chest worthy of the Gubnatorial race. I highly doubt that Cuomo needs 5.1 million dollars for the Attorny Generals race, especially with more than a year away from the election.

Everything Cuomo is doing is indicitive of someone who is seriosly considering a move up the ladder. He is building up a huge surplus of cash and spending nearly none. I believe Cuomo is going to wait a little longer to decide if he is going to challenge Paterson. It looks like Cuomo will only step up if it is clear that Paterson can not beat whoever is running on the Republican ticket. It is possible that Paterson’s numbers could turn around, but only time will tell.

A Quick Summation…

So, after a long weekend of pondering the actions of the New York State Senate I think, think, I have figured out why Pedro Espada was made Majority Leader. I believe, both Democrats and Republicans are fearful of Governor David Patersons pick for Lt. Governor, Richard Ravitch, for differing reasons.

Democrats were afraid that should Richard Ravitch assume the position of Lt. Governor a new head hancho would be in charge of the senate. The Dems like the position they are in now. They like not having to report to anyone but themselves. So, naturally, they do not want the governor steping on their turf. Also, the senate would look entirely useless if they could not solve the problem on their own. Should the Governor have to step in a fix the problem it would add insult to injury and make the clear statment that the Senate Dems can not run a body of government without creating some sort of catastrophic issue. So, a deal needed to be brokered quickly.

The Republicans were put, due to their own actions, into a precarious position once Paterson announced his plans to make Richard Ravitch Lt. Governor. I believe that as long as the senate remained non-functioning a court was likely to find the governor’s actions legal because he was fulfilling the long held practice of check and balances. The executive was checking the legislature to ensure they would not continue to drag down the state government. Also, i am willing to bet more than one judge the republicans consulted told them this. So, therefore the republicans had two choices, gamble it all on a judge who believes in strict constitutionalism, or conceed something to ensure they get something.

I believe they told Espada to go back to the dems and say you can have power but our guy, Espada, must be Majority Leader. That way they can hold it over his head for years that without the Republicans he would not have recieved the placement giving them some leverage. If they had not, there was a decent chance that Ravitch would have come in and given the Dems the majority again and the Republicans would have gotten nothing back and held the blame for the tie-up.

Pedro Espada, Espada needed the have a position of power otherwise his ass was going to be voted out of office faster than anyone can imagine. If this whole debacle ended with him on the losing side he would never be allowed back into politics. So, by making a deal and becoming Majority Leader he now stands a chance at retaining his seat.

And lastly, Governor Paterson. Paterson stood the most to gain from this whole situation. His ratings have been in the tank since winter and he needed something to drag him back into the game. He only had to appear resolute and hold the senates feet to the fire for the duration of this process to make this happen. In a more expert political maneuverm, he appointed a Lt. Governor. See, it does not matter if Richard Ravitch was allowed to take the seat at all. It only matters that he made the attempt to solve the issue and flexed his muscles. He can now claim that he solved the senate deadbolt in his campaign to be elected.

Now it all makes sense…

A New Player Enters the Mix

Most people by now know that Governor David Paterson has decided to appoint Richard Ravitch as Lt. Governor in an attempt to end the senates power debacle. The question now is should he have done it and is it legal?

Governor Paterson has made quite a few bad decsions since he has taken office. That said, in the last few months i believe we have seen Paterson at his best. He has held the hands of both senate republicans and senate democrats trying to get the two to agree, he has forced senators into session, and he has stripped them of their paychecks. Each time both parties spit in his face telling him that they will take care of this themsleves. So, when nothing happend he did the only think he thought would help. He acted.

You can not stand on a pedistal and condem the Paterson for acting like an adult and finding a solution to the problem. The Senate needs a leader, the state needs a line of succession. By appointing someone to the Lt. Governor’s position he can break the gridlock by essentially adding another vote to the democratic caucus.

The question now is, is it legal? Honestly, I have not read the law, nor do I have to to know how this should be decided. The fact of the matter is that government has come to a extraodinary and unexpected halt. Elected Officials have refused to solve the problem in a timely manner. The Governor saw a way of getting the wheels of the senate moving, so he acted. Sometimes, the best course of action is not the legal action, it is just the right thing to do.

Either way, now the appointment will be sent to the courts to decide. Should their decsion come down against appointment the state will be exactally where we were a day ago, if the appointment holds than the senate has finally been greased and is rolling again.

Local Vs. State Control

So, since there is little to dicuss in the about legislation or any proactive action by our state government i thought this would be a good time to talk about something that has plauged New York, and most states, for awhile now. People have been squabbling about who should get to decide how to run their communities, Local governments or State Governments.

Thos who support local government control argue that the state is out of touch of the needs of their community and what their community needs. Often times that is followed up with the argument that small towns and small cities do not have the power that larger cities have and therefore their power is even more reduced.

I even agree with some of these claims. Local governments are much more in touch with communities than state governments are. However, here is where I begin to disagree with the fundemental argument that local governments should have more power.

Local governments and State Governments do not share a federal system like state and federal government. Those powers not reserved by the states do not fall to the communitites. The states are responsible for governing their respective territories completely. In other words, state governments have the final say in every action taken by any local entity. Any and every State Law usurps any and every local law.

Also, on a more commen sense level, what would happen if every local municipality had the power to have conflicting laws and conflicting reasons for such laws. How would the judiciary decide any ruling opinions? It would be anarchy. There could be no precedents to be set, which would impeed on higher courts from decideing other cases.

So, on the mere common sense level the idea of local governments running themselves fails. Which means I do not really have to get into the fact that local governments have proven time and again that without state intervention they would fall apart and not be able to do anything. So, we have no other way to conclude this than with…fix the state government because the local governments are purely advisory. Without our ruling body the state will fall into anarchy.

By Judicial Decree

Thats right, it took a judicial decree to force our New York State Senate to conveen as one whole body. See the State Senate is acting like two brothers who do not want to share a toy. So, the mother (the judiciary) must step in and force them to get along.

The fact that it came to a judicial order to force their hand is an embarresment to the state and the electorate. Our legislative body is so dysfuctional, so pathetic, so thick-headed, that they require another branch of the government to tell them what to do and when to do it.

In a tripartite government each body should be able to act as an autonomous entity. Meaning each one should be able to function with as little interferance from the other two as possible. So, when i say it is embarrassing that our legislature needs another branch to force it to do its job, its an absolute truth. Rather than working like a smooth system, with each branch doing its job. New York State has the Executive and Judicial branches babysitting a dysfunctional legislature pulling them away from their respective duties, making the whole system fall apart.

I suppose this is why we have three branches of government, to ensure the rights of the voting electorate. However, New York is a special case scenario. The founders created the three branch system as a fail safe, a back up to the voters not being able to take action. Which, we can’t currently. But, once we are given to option to fix the problem it is in the voters hands again.

New York has taken the opposite approach. We have decided to rely on the fail-safe of the three branch system exclusively. We continually re-elect the same people to office ensuring the continuation of the problem. Fix the problem people. Stop looking at this situation and saying “not my legislator” becasue it is your legislator, its all of them. Get with it and make an informed decision rather than a decsion that continues the the problem.

Back to Basics…

Rudy Giuliani has finally said something more impressive than the words September 11th. Giuliani has suggested that the state re-evaluate its constitution and hold a convention.

New York has the option of hold a convention every 20 years or so. The last one was held in 1967. In order to hold a convention the state, as a whole, must vote up or down to open a convention. Should that happen the elctorate would vote on delegates. The Delegates would conveen in Albany and come up with changes to the State constitution which then voters would vote to adopt the changes and henceforth the new constitution.

So, why should the state take this kind of action? Well, there are several things wrong with the constitution. Firstly, New York has decided that it will pass constitutional amendments rather than laws in order to keep corruption out of the system. The fall off however is that amendments are inherantly harder change making them more perminate. Henceforth, making our constitution antiquated.

So, the only way to fix the backroom dealing, rentention rate, and leadership issues we must fix the states legal document. It would give the voters a chance to make real change in the state and not have to rely on professional politicians to do it since none of them can be elected to the delegation.

By removing all current politicians we will have the chance to clean up the state and remove all the gunk that has bogged our electoral system down. We only stand to gain through this process. It needs to be done and should be done.

We have the chance to hold a constitutional convention in 2010 if the voters decide to hold one. Lets take that chance.

A Tale of Two Senates

Where to begin …I suppose the only appropriate place to start is to recap a little of what happend in the New York State Senate Yesterday Afternoon.

Essentially both “majorities” showed up for special session, at different times of course, and proceeded to hold two different sessions of Senate. At 2 pm Republicans held session while the Democrats remained seated in their chairs. At that point Republicans “passed” legislation by pretending to vote. In reality all they did was read the names of senators present saying that counted as a vote. So, in their version of democracy all bills passed unopposed.

Then at 3 pm the Democrats held session, acting similarly to the Republicans. Bringing bills to the floor and voting on them. More importantly I suppose is the fact that while each Presiding President Pro Tempore of the two sessions spoke the opposing one isisted on making cat calls trying to interrupt them. In fact at one point opposing senators began making personal attacks at each other reminiscent of playgrounf bullying. Proud I am to be a New Yorker….

Essentially, at this point, every single New Yorker needs to consider how our state government is operating…or lack thereof. Our elected officials are acting in a way that parents of 5 year olds would not put up with. Why should we, the responsible voting electorate, allow them to retain their positions when they cleary can not handle the responsibility of the position. I am not talking about one or two of them. I am saying the unit, as a whole, is useless.

What should we do then? Vote them all out. Every single one. Whoever “the other guy” is, vote him in office. I would rather have someone who knows nothing of state government, someone who is on the exact opposite political spectrum of me, but believes in democracy and has the integrity to act democratically than any of the people currently filling those positions.

The need for this kind of action is obvious. We do not have a functioning democracy as long as representitves that continue the old practices remain. By establishing new blood in the chambers, all of them, this state stands a chance at regaining glory. Until then, New York will be the laughing stock of the nation. As the actions of the Senate have proved.