A few weeks ago, some campaign staff from Chris Higgins, who is running for the New York State Assembly in 109th district (near Albany) contacted me about doing something on Balloon Juice. I used to write for state and local political blogs (under a different name) but I hadn’t thought much about New York State politics in a while. Here’s why: it’s very hard to keep national politics and New York State politics in your head at the same time, because they are so different. In New York State, you have a moderate Republican party and a fairly liberal Democratic party running the state on a sort of joint operating agreement. The Senate is drawn so that Republicans can control it, the Assembly so that Democrats can control it. This will eventually change — Democrats will eventually control everything — because the Democrats have a massive statewide registration advantage. Republicans have held on to the Senate for as long as they have through a combination of gerrymandering, popular earmarks (they have a different name here, but same sort of thing), and politically adept incumbents. When these politically adept incumbents retire, their seats will go to Democrats.
The state legislature is incredibly corrupt — the 2004 Brennan report described it as among the most dysfunctional in the country, and the popular book “Three Men In A Room” recounted remarkable stories about the amount of power the leaders of the State Senate and Assembly wielded.
The real issues in New York State politics are going to be corruption and internecine battles between liberal and centrist Democrats, not the usual Republican versus Democrat stuff.
I asked Chris Higgins what he would do about corruption in the State Legislature and I liked his answer, so I am reprinting it here, below the dotted line (also too, here’s his campaign page if you’re interested):
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Corruption in the New York State legislature stems in large part from the outside activities of its members. Many members hold positions in law firms or business groups that have interests before the State. Further, members are not required to disclose these significant sources of income. I, for one, would not produce outside income as service in the Assembly district would be my full time job.
In response to the ineffectiveness of multiple ethics agencies and the competing jurisdictions of such agencies, Governor Cuomo created the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE). This is a good first step, but there are many problems remaining with JCOPE. First, and most significantly, JCOPE lacks subpoena power, except in the case of failure to comply with a random audit. This severely limits JCOPE’s effectiveness. If I am elected to the Assembly I will introduce legislation to ensure that JCOPE has the powers necessary to enforce its mandate. Second, as JCOPE is currently constituted, a majority of appointees from one legislative leader can act to block an investigation. That is to say, appointees of the Speaker may act to block investigation into the Speaker (or anyone else he or she may want to protect). This is anathema to open government and needs to change. I will pursue a change in the structure of JCOPE to ensure its independence in action and judgment. Last, I think that in order to effectuate JCOPE’s mission, there must be overlapping jurisdiction. Given how JCOPE is currently constituted, I believe is important to have the ability to prosecute corrupt officials, despite efforts to stymie such investigations in JCOPE. Therefore, I will propose to give the Attorney General concurrent jurisdiction and subpoena power to act where JCOPE cannot or will not.
I have a strong record on ethics, having been one of the prime sponsors to the 2011 revisions to the Albany County Ethics Law. Along with several other colleagues, the County Legislature was able to strengthen our existing law, which had not been updated in twenty years. The measure, which passed in December 2011, removes ambiguous terms and sets clear disclosures required of county and public officials. In addition, it reinvigorates the County Ethics Commission by providing it with more responsibility and oversight. You can review the legislation here:
link
The state legislature has had a multitude of recent scandals that have forced some very basic reforms; however, I believe that we can, and should, go much further. Making JCOPE an independent investigatory entity is a start, akin to increasing beat cops in a neighborhood plagued by crime. But there are many other factors to corruption, not the least of which is an incumbent controlled redistricting process that subverts the democratic process. Through a rigged redistricting process incumbents are rarely, if ever, held accountable for their actions and are more or less allowed to draw their own districts in a way that ensures re-election.
I supported Governor Cuomo’s calls for an independent redistricting commission and was disappointed when he failed to follow through on his promise to veto redistricting lines not drawn by such a commission. I think that an independent redistricting commission will make legislators more responsive to the needs of their communities and thus, less susceptible to corrupting influences. Accountability is the most effective way to combat corruption and I believe taking redistricting out of the hands of the legislature is the surest way to more open, accountable and transparent government. One final thing we can do that I support and mention on my palm card is to enact full public financing of elections. This will help return democracy back to the people by making the playing field more fair and level. The amount of money needed to get elected these days is astounding and I have no doubt it contributes to the pay to play mentality rampant in New York. Removing big money will help return democracy back to the people and allow candidates to focus more on the issues then on the money needed to run the race.
Hunter Gathers
As a resident of Illinois, I am offended by that statement. New York State can’t hold Illinois’ jock when it come to corruption.
In the interest of disclosure and transparency, I voted for Blago in 2006. And I knew he was a crook at the time. I’ll take a dirty Dem over any GOPer everyday of the week.
MattF
There’s a (probably apocryphal) quote from a Maryland legislator who was accused of a conflict-of-interest. “It doesn’t conflict with any of my interests.”
Culture of Truth
If being in the Assembly is going to be a full-time job, it should pay more. Asking voters to pay corrpt politicians more is not going to be easy. Voters have to be persuaded that the current system, where lawmakers’ income is supplement by outside activities, is not merely a bit distasteful, but is distorting to the use and abuse of government power in ways that are almost never to the advantage of the regular person.
To do this I think you need to appeal to people’s paranoia that someone is getting something you are not because of a backroom deal, a fear which cut across party lines, and has the added advantage of being true.
Tsukune
From 1776
me
@Hunter Gathers: As a resident of Wisconsin, we’re trying to catch up.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Show me a state legislature controlled by one party (massively and for a long time) and I’ll show you a corrupt state legislature. This is the one instance where I’ll fall into the Villager’s “both sides do it” crap.
State legislatures are typically corrupt anyway with both sides playing nicely in the sandbox as long as the “benefits” flow in the appropriate directions. It’s only when one party gets completely ensconced in power that the everyday, runofthemill corruption goes on steroids.
arguingwithsignposts
@Hunter Gathers: Illinois: Where our governors make our license plates.
MikeJ
How much are you willing to pay legislators? Washington pays about $28k, which is either too little or too much. Too little to get people with professional degrees to do it as a full time job, too much for a part time job with only 90 days in session.
Culture of Truth
It’s not merely a matter of what your are willing to pay, but you are willing to put up with as a direct and inevitable consequence of lawmakers who are encouraged to make money, perhaps a great deal of it, in private businesses while writing the state’s laws.
MikeJ
@Culture of Truth: Yes, but if you don’t pay more people will have to have other jobs. I think the real question is, should being a legislator be a full time job or a part time job? If it’s full time, pay them for full time. If it’s part time, don’t act surprised when they have other jobs.
Metrosexual Black AbeJ
@MikeJ:
They get about 90K a year. That’s good money upstate. It’s nothing downstate.
albany layman
The pay for a legiscritter in NYS starts at about $80K a year, and goes up depending on their rank and their committee memberships. And they certainly are not in session for the full year.
And yes, they have the gall to describe the job as part time, and claim that they need to pursue outside income because it’s part time work.
The pols like the divided legislature just fine. It’s a ready made excuse for not getting things done. Cuomo, top dog of NYS Dems, does not campaign against Senate Repubs. That should tell you quite a bit.
sparky
@Metrosexual Black AbeJ: why did you stop your politics blogging if I may ask?
nathan implosion
90k a year is fine downstate. you can have a perfectly nice life in the city on 90k a year with the exception of possibly the upper east side and chelsea.
Make them full time, outlaw outside jobs, and publicly fund (and cap spending on) elections and a lot of the problems go away. he’s absolutely right about the cost of running a race being out of hand. there was a senate primary in 10 where the three candidates combined spent 2 million. even running upstate, you now have to budget for 100-125k to run an assembly race. it’s absurd.
Ed Drone
@Metrosexual Black AbeJ:
Then redistrict so that every district has a “finger” upstate, and only hire (run) upstaters for the office.
Ed
sparky
PS nice summary of nys. Only thing I would add is that much of the state has been in a long slow decline since the 1960s.
Metrosexual Black AbeJ
@sparky:
I got into a tiff with the other people at my local blog in Rochester, and on the state blog, I didn’t feel like I contributed that much (some of the others lived in Albany or were actual full-time political bloggers).
Metrosexual Black AbeJ
@nathan implosion:
There are also a lot of issues with campaign financing.
Gabriel
@Ed
Really, the solution to different costs of living is to completely write New York City out of state governance? Much as I’m sure upstate would love that idea I’m not really sure how it would work with the whole democracy concept. We have a hard enough time getting back the tax money we send to Albany already (one of the quirks in NYS is that city taxes are actually collected by the state treasury and then, theoretically at least, sent back) Each assemblyman represents ~130,000 people, each senator ~310,000 with a total state budget of over 130,000,000,000. Paying each of them $250,000/year would only represent .04% of that and we would probably make up the difference in reduced corruption.
Jonas
Wait a minute! Metrosexual Black AbeJ isn’t your real name? I’ll never believe another word you say.