Buffalo News: ‘People’s Convention’ for state is pushed
February 19th, 2010
Ordinary citizens seen as force in Albany reform
“Let the people decide — that’s all of us — and decide in November whether they want to have a convention or not to try to change their state government,” said Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb of Canandaigua. Joining him were Assemblywoman Jane L. Corwin of Clarence and Assemblymen Jack F. Quinn III of Hamburg, Joseph M. Giglio of Gowanda and Stephen M. Hawley of Batavia.
Kolb and the other lawmakers described state government as broken and unresponsive to taxpayers. He said the idea for a people’s convention enjoys bipartisan support.
“Former Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo has penned an op-ed piece this year saying that we should have a constitutional convention. Republican [former New York City Mayor Rudy] Giuliani has done the same thing, and there [are] more and more people who are taking public positions that are outside state government,” Kolb said.
According to proponents, if the measure is approved by voters in the state, citizens would be allowed to run to serve as delegates to the convention, which would be made up 201 citizens — three delegates each from 62 state senatorial districts and a total of 15 delegates elected statewide.
“Once the convention is convened, those delegates cannot be interferred with,” Kolb said. “They decide the process, procedures, how they’re going to vote. It’s all decided by the citizen delegates that go to this convention. So they really run their own show once they get there.”
While those in the audience were generally supportive, some expressed skepticism about whether such a convention would represent the will of regular citizens. Allen Coniglio, a local Tea Party coordinator from Amherst, said his organization has already been at work on a similar effort.
“We the people … want to be involved in this. We don’t want anyone to take this from us, because you’ve taken too much from us,” Coniglio said. “It’s gotten out of hand. … We don’t like what the government is doing. … The government of this country has caused the people … to become so sickened at what is going on.”
Kolb said lawmakers who support the bill are seeking only to establish guidelines for who may run as delegates. If approved by state voters, he said, the convention would cost no more than about $15 million.
“And people say, “Can we afford that?’ Well, I say on a $132 billion budget we can find $15 million to try to reform state government,” Kolb said, “and I could give you 100 ideas on where to get that $15 million. … So it won’t cost you one penny more in taxes.”
