Calls grow louder for NY constitutional convention
August 31st, 2009
Voters, scholars agree change is needed
RecordOnline
Critics: Public’s role is curtailed
August 31st, 2009
By Joseph Spector • Journal Albany bureau • August 31, 2009
ALBANY – In Massachusetts, a person can only contribute up to $500 a year to a political candidate and $12,500 to all candidates.
In New York, the contribution limit is $55,900 to a gubernatorial candidate and $150,000 to all candidates each year. Read the rest of this entry »
Calls grow louder for NY constitutional convention Voters, scholars agree change is needed
August 31st, 2009
By Jeremiah Horrigan
Times Herald-Record
August 31, 2009 2:00 AM
NEW PALTZ — What do former Governor Mario Cuomo, state Sen. John Bonacic and a majority of New York state voters have in common?
They’re all in favor — in their various ways — of legislation that would lay tracks for a state constitutional convention. Read the rest of this entry »
Kolb Pushes Reform
August 28th, 2009
From the Gotham Gazette
Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb has been calling for a constitutional convention for weeks. On Wednesday Kolb launched an online petition to try to marshal support for his idea. Today Kolb’s office began circulating a memo about his “bipartisan legislation” that would make changes to the way a constitutional convention is carried out. Read the rest of this entry »
Kolb posts online petition for constitutional convention
August 27th, 2009
From the Daily Messanger
Canandaigua, N.Y. —
Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, today launched an online petition in seeking support for his proposed bill People’s Convention to Reform New York. Kolb stated in a release the convention could create spending and property tax caps, term limits, a nonpartisan way to draw legislative districts that have long protected incumbents and reform the budget process.
Find the petition at www.reformny.org Read the rest of this entry »
In Albany, power to the people
August 26th, 2009
MPNnow.com
Daily Messenger
Posted Aug 26, 2009 @ 11:00 AM
“Since the question of whether New York should call a Constitutional Convention was last rejected in 1997, I believe things in state government, and all across New York, have only gotten worse.”
With that extraordinary understatement, Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb of Canandaigua has succinctly explained why it’s time for the politicians, lobbyists and other entrenched interests in Albany to step aside — or be similarly swept. Read the rest of this entry »
Constitutional Convention Is Sorely Needed
August 26th, 2009
The Post-Journal:
To the Readers’ Forum:
It was with great interest that I read Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb’s column calling for a “People’s Constitutional Convention” in Sunday’s paper. I was shocked that a state elected official would advocate that regular people have the chance to craft a new state constitution and not the same politicians and special interests who got us into all the problems we have now. Read the rest of this entry »
Kolb Pushes For Constitutional Convention
August 26th, 2009
From Politics on the Hudson
Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, is continuing
the push for a constitutional convention in New York, launching today
an on-line petition to build support for a “People’s Convention to
Reform New York.” Read the rest of this entry »
Push for Constitutional Convention Gaining Traction
August 25th, 2009
From WNBZ
According to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 72 percent of New Yorkers are fed up with the constant gridlock in Albany.
Faced with such a negative perception, Democratic Assembly backbenchers and the Republican minority leadership are pushing for a constitutional convention. But they’re facing opposition from majority leadership and Governor David Paterson. Read the rest of this entry »
As Voter Disgust With Albany Rises, So Do Calls for a New Constitution
August 24th, 2009
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
The New York Times
ALBANY — Few New Yorkers would disagree that state politics are broken. Even fewer are the number of proposed fixes — from term limits for lawmakers to tighter restrictions on campaign fund-raising — that have actually become law.
Now in the weeks since a partisan power struggle in the State Senate brought New York’s government to new heights of chaos, a growing chorus is calling for a more radical approach: a constitutional convention to rewrite the state’s very political DNA.
Those advocating for a convention include some leading aspirants for higher office, like Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and a potential candidate for governor; elders of the political establishment, like the former governor Mario M. Cuomo; and editorial pages across the state. Read the rest of this entry »
