NY Clean Conscience Pledge

The Clean Conscience Pledge was proposed by Citizens Union, Common Cause-New York and the New York Public Interest Research Group. It commits legislators to advance laws that limit legislators' outside income, close the campaign finance loophole for limited liability companies (LLC) and increase public transparency of discretionary spending.

My State Senator, Liz Kuegar, responded to my letter:



Dear Mr. Drucker

Thank you for contacting me regarding your support for the Clean Conscience Pledge. I have signed the pledge and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the legislature to enact legislation that will bring about real reforms.

The Clean Conscience Pledge calls for passing legislation that:

- limits outside income for legislators so we can focus on constituent needs,
- limits the ability of special interests to contribute unlimited amounts of money to all candidates for state office by closing the LLC loophole, and
- identifies the purpose for, and recipients of, all state funds allocated to be spent at the discretion of legislators and the governor to increase transparency and eliminate conflicts of interest.

These are all principles that I have long supported, and I cosponsor legislation to accomplish these goals. I will continue to make passage of legislation implementing these policies a top priority.

Thank you again for contacting me regarding these important issues. Do not hesitate to reach out to me again in the future about this or any other subject that concerns you.

Sincerely,

Liz Krueger
State Senator











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker

Response to My Letter Supporting Campaign Finance Reform

Received this from my New York State Senator, Liz Krueger (28th District).

Dear Mr. Drucker

Thank you for contacting me regarding your support for public financing of elections.  I too am a strong supporter of campaign finance reform and the recent charges against the Senate majority leader only serve to highlight the need for this fundamental reform to our political system.  I look forward to working with my colleagues in the legislature to pass legislation implementing a public financing system similar to New York City's.

I have long been an advocate of ending the use of soft money and implementing a system of public financing for campaigns.  Interest in reforming the processes of government is a large part of what brought me to Albany.  Dating back to my early years in office, I have co-sponsored bills intended to make our State government more transparent and more truly democratic, such as the Clean Money Clean Elections bill.  Public financing, more frequent reporting of contributions and stronger penalties for violating campaign finance rules are critical to ensure government that is free of undue influence by the rich and powerful, and represents all citizens equally.

Fair elections legislation would substantially reduce the influence of big money on political campaigns in New York State.  Such a system, with voluntary public matching funds, has already been tested here in New York City and has proven a useful reform.  While it does not resolve all problems with the influence of money on elections, it did help to open up the New York City electoral process to a range of new voices from communities often excluded from politics.  Such a reform should be adopted at the state level as well.

Thank you again for contacting me regarding this important issue.  Please be assured that I will continue to support and work for passage of a real public campaign financing system during the current legislative session. Do not hesitate to reach out to me again in the future about this or any other subject that concerns you.

Sincerely,

Liz Krueger

State Senator

I have worked with Liz on many issues and appreciate her including me in her events as press.











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

NY Redistricting View from a State Senator

This is from my New York State Senator.

I want to take the opportunity to explain what happened after midnight last night in the State Legislature.

Last night, around midnight on the morning of the Ides of March, my Senate Democratic colleagues and I refused to support a backroom deal on redistricting that protects incumbent legislators by disenfranchising minorities, discriminating against voters from New York City and Long Island, and blatantly violating the Voting Rights Act.

When we tried to raise these issues in debate, the Republican Senate leadership silenced us – violating a previously agreed-to timeframe for debating the measure. Faced with a bill that would violate New Yorkers’ voting rights, and denied even the opportunity to speak on the floor of the Senate, we stood up for New Yorkers in the only way left to us – by standing up and leaving the Senate Chamber. We refused to legitimize their cowardly censorship of floor debate, an open attack on deliberative democracy. We were thus marked absent on the vote, but let me be clear: my vote was NO!

Then, continuing into the dead of night, the Senate passed bills that had just been introduced on Tier VI Pensions, casino gambling, teacher evaluations, and DNA collection. All of these bills were then voted on while the ink was still wet, after I and my Democratic colleagues had left the chamber. These are all important legislative measures that should have been reviewed, discussed and debated on the merits – but instead they were passed between midnight and 4 a.m., with no real opportunity for legislators to review or consider them.

There was no committee review or discussion and no public notice, nor did they age for three days as required. They were delivered with Messages of Necessity from the governor – which allows skipping the normal process under emergency circumstances. What was the emergency?

This procedure was used because passing them was the tradeoff for the governor agreeing to sign the gerrymandered redistricting lines. I and my colleagues would have loved the opportunity to study and debate these specific proposals, but because that was not permitted, we were prepared to vote no last night.

I feel my colleagues made an important statement by refusing to participate in the farce that occurred last night in the Capitol. There has been much talk about a ‘new New York’ and in particular a new, functional, transparent Albany, but passing bills in the dead of night certainly does not meet that description. With backroom deals on redistricting and constitutional amendments, with 4 a.m. votes on bills too new to even have been read, with the doors to the Capitol literally locked down to shut out the public – we have been brought back to the ugly days of the past.

I am proud of my Democratic colleagues for being the only ones willing to take a stand for 19.5 million New Yorkers’ voting rights, for small-‘d’ democracy in our state, and for the ‘new New York’ I will continue to fight for that is, sadly, not yet a reality.

Sincerely,

Liz Krueger
State Senator









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us