Response to Brennan Center
Eliot Spitzer's spokeswoman responds to the Brennan Center's report on the state legislature, which you can read over here [pdf].
Eliot has consistently called for greater reform, transparency and accountability in state government and there is clearly more work to be done. The Brennan Center report correctly notes that more progress towards reform has been made in the Assembly than in the Senate, and the assembly should be commended for their reform efforts. Both houses, however, still can do much more and as governor, Eliot hopes to work with them to implement his broad reform agenda.
How do you guys think the legislature is doing?
-- Azi Paybarah
They actually do things?
Besides covering up their own sexual misconduct?
as a current member, of the upper house, i can tell you first hand, all the criticism is unfair. the legislature is actually WORSE than the Brennan Center says. the only way to change it, give the senate to the dems and elect some really anti-shelly dems in the assembly. you can't fight the assembly with republicans, not enough, change in that conference must come from within.
Interesting that Brennan Center says the Assembly has made important progress. With a new Governor, it seems possible that Shelly Silver will go to great lengths to help Spitzer succeed where Pataki a) gave him no reason to be helpful and b) was not involved in governing anyway. It looks like we finally may get a better State government if the 3 men in the room work together.
We will only get better state government when the bastards can be voted out of office. While the Democrats in Washington are working hard to pick up the House and Senate can anyone tell me what the Democratic State Senate Leadership is doing to pick up seats. Are they even trying. What are DSCC doing with the money it is collecting to defeat Republicans going on golf outings?
They're right. And so is Spitzer... the Assembly has gone further on meaningful reforms. But you never get the sense that they are actually putting any muscle behind those proposals.
I am very worried that Spitzer is going to make a huge mistake right out of the gate by going for big spending cuts, instead of institutional reforms like public financing, redistricting commission, budget process reform, lobbying reforms etc. etc.
Please do those first: they will matter more in the longer run, and once they're in place, it's a lot easier to do good policy work. Day 1 is nice, but it's a 4 year term.
What reform it took the courts for force the end of Judicial Conventions, not the Assemlby. It was the Brennan center who took the legislature to court.
Prehaps the Brennen center talked to soon. it will take years to clean up Albany. And it will not be cleaned up by the same people running the show now