Today is primary day and 3.5 million Flori

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

New York: Are partisans really capable of electoral reform?????

Heat turned up on reform
Advocates of change gather at Capitol to try to reignite movement as next round of state elections approaches
By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN Wednesday, May 10, 2006 Capitol bureau, Albany Times Union
ALBANY -- Government reform advocates gathered at the Capitol Tuesday in hopes of reigniting a movement that burned hot when legislators were up for re-election two years ago, but has as the next round of state-level contests approaches. After being dubbed the nation's most dysfunctional state legislature in 2004 and seeing several incumbent lawmakers lose their seats that fall -- a near-unheard-of phenomenon at the Capitol -- state leaders passed two on-time budgets in a row. Since then, the issue of reform has largely moved onto Albany's back burner.
"Where is reform? What happened to reform?" Senate Minority Leader David Paterson, D-Harlem, the running mate of Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Eliot Spitzer, asked advocates who gathered at The Egg's Hart Lounge before they fanned out to lobby legislators in honor of "Reform Day." ....

....Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, the underdog Democratic gubernatorial candidate, made the day's most radical proposal. He called for the ouster of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, saying "they have failed to fight for the reforms that we seek."
Suozzi, the only gubernatorial candidate to speak at Reform Day, said rank-and-file legislators are too afraid of losing member items, stipends and other perks that leaders control to truly represent their constituents in Albany. He said advocates should target one incumbent majority member in each house who is not working for reform every election cycle.....
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Suozzi wants Silver, Bruno out
BY LAUREN WEBER NEWSDAY ALBANY BUREAU May 10, 2006 ALBANY - Thomas Suozzi grabbed attention for his struggling gubernatorial campaign yesterday when he called for the ouster of Albany's two top legislators, saying Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver should "be replaced, because they have failed to fight for the reforms that we seek."
The remarks, given at a gathering of organizations pushing for reform of Albany's political structure, further cemented Suozzi's stance as an outsider.
Silver, a fellow Democrat, dismissed Suozzi's comments. "Desperate candidates say desperate things. He's still trying to cover for his latest guffaw, which was taxing all of his constituents on the Long Island Expressway," Silver said, referring to Suozzi's suggestion that drivers pay to use the LIE during peak hours.
A spokesman for Bruno, a Republican, said, "It's just internal Democratic Party politics."
But beneath the word-slinging was the real topic of the day: the often inflexible structure that governs Albany and, by extension, New York State.
Suozzi called for reform in campaign finance, lobbying laws and other areas. He saved his most passionate words for the topic of redistricting, the means of setting geographic boundaries for legislative seats.....
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