What To Demand Of Your State Legislators
July 31st, 2006
In two editorials over the weekend (and a promise of more to come), The New York Times asks New Yorkers not to give state legislators their votes without demanding something in return reform.
In Note To Voters: Dont Go Easy, The Times specifically asks voters to question the candidates to see if they support
1. an independent redistricting commission
2. a campaign finance reform package proposed by many good-government groups, including the Brennan Center, Citizens Union, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters and the New York Public Interest Research Group.
3.a real ethics reform law that would (among other things) strengthen bans on the personal use of campaign contributions no more golf outings or parking tickets on the political dole.”
4. rules reform.
A second editorial Promises, Pensions and Politics, urges the defeat of a current crop of bills that would increase pensions for county sheriffs and other state workers. In an ideal world, we would all like to have better pensions. But as New York City staggers under its long-term obligations to retired workers, it cannot afford to have Albany adding extra costs without any suggestion as to how to pay for them. The survival of the politically connected is no way to run benefit programs.
By Jonathan Mandell on July 31, 2006, 6:52 amIn category: Albany, Governing | 4 Comments »


