HAMBURG (wned) – State Assembly Republican Leader Brian Kolb brought his push for a state Constitutional Convention to Hamburg last night.

The goal is to pass legislation this year, elect delegates next year and hold the convention in 2012.

Some speakers at Union-Pleasant Elementary School were skeptical of the plan. Tea Party Coalition activist Allen Coniglio wondered “how we can trust any of you and how we can trust the process.”

He argued that a state convention would be run by “party insiders” who would enact “change for their own benefit.”

Kolb said the key to making a convention work is to restrict who can serve in it, barring lobbyists, elected officials and party officials.

Richard Speth said he returned to New York after living 33 years in California where voter initiatives “took the government out of the hands of the legislature, the senate and the executive branch.”

According to Speth, such actions required 100,000 signatures to appear on the ballot and, if passed, “would supercede the articles of the constitution.”

The last Constitutional Convention was in 1967, though there have been several unsuccessful attempts to stage others.

“There is a real opportunity here for a grass roots effort that is actually growing,” offered speaker Michael Madigan.

“Whether it’s Democrat, Independent or Republican, everybody. Look at what happened in Massachusetts (the surprise election Senator Scott Brown), if Republicans think they are safe, they are sadly mistaken.”

BUFFALO, NY – Some republican members of the state assembly say the only way to get real reform in Albany is through a constitutional convention.

That was the topic of conversation Thursday night at an open house in Hamburg.

If the legislature and voters approve a convention, delegates could change the way state government is run, but only if they decide to put that on their agenda.

2 On Your Side’s Josh Boose asked lawmakers if this plan is going to work and what else they’re doing to bring real reform to state politics.

Boose: “A lot of people across Western New York are saying we want to see term limits, they want to see pay cuts, they want to see staff cuts, they want to see dramatic changes. Those are the emails were getting at least. What do you say to that? Are you looking at those things?”

Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples, (D) “What I say to that. If there were pay cuts, if there were term limits, if there less people representing you at the state level of government, federal level, city or county, that does not how we collect personal income taxes none of it would make a difference.”

Boose: “Wouldn’t that be a new symbolic step to something new, something different, a new approach?”  

Peoples: “I think that would be a step to make people feel better. But is it going to make them do better?”

Assemblyman Jack Quinn (Rep.): “I would hope not. This is a situation where we don’t care if this is our bill or someone else’s bill.”

Boose: “Even a democrat?”  

Quinn: “It should be, I hope it is.”

Assemblyman Sam Hoyt (D): “It would be nice if there was a more bipartisan approach.”

Boose: “Have you thought about creating an upstate coalition if you will, bringing everyone together, republicans and democrats to do something and fight for upstate?”

Hoyt: “Well, right now were beginning to do that with democrats. Unfortunately, there’s a lack of trust.”

Boose: “If you can’t trust your colleagues in the assembly and senate, what’s the option, new members to fill those seats?”

Hoyt: “I think there’s going to be turnover this year. There’s an across the board lack of trust, in my opinion there’s been a break down in civility but not a willingness to walk across party lines.”

Boose: “For the people that say we here this all the time, we’ve been to open houses and town hall meetings, it’s all talk and results what do you say?”

Assemblywoman Jane Corwin (Rep.): “Well, we’re trying. I’m trying. This is what has to happen. We have to get people involved. Constituents have to take an active role.”

Driving the issue is the increasingly obvious need for fundamental reform of Albany World.

One participant in the forum was Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, who has been among the most prominent of current political leaders pushing for a constitutional convention. He argued last week that the state Legislature is incapable of reforming itself.

After years of watching the Legislature dodge meaningful reform — most recently by passing wholly insufficient ethics legislation that Gov. David Paterson quite sensibly vetoed — we wholeheartedly agree. Albany World, entrenched and systemically unresponsive to the needs of the people, is no more likely to reform itself than a leopard is to change its spots.

Another forum participant, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Elmsford, who had supported a convention, says he no longer does because the measure proposed by Kolb lacks specifics regarding what types of changes would be made. Persons “calling for a convention …,” Brodsky says, “have an obligation to tell us what the Constitution would look like when they are finished with it.”

We disagree. There can be no preconditions to the content or end product of a constitutional convention. Any attempt to project or somehow guarantee its outcome misapprehends the undertaking, which should be the widest and most creative discussion for reform based on the collective experience and judgment of delegates elected by the people.

Ultimately, the people themselves will have the last word on whether to adopt or reject the recommendations of any convention. Of exactly what, then, are opponents afraid? The potential for change subject to ratification by the people?

OK, we get it. Amendments that elsewhere in the nation have proven popular, but not necessarily successful, are quite possible, such as term limits and popular initiative and referendum that puts the power of legislating directly into the hands of the electorate. We share reservations about such innovations.

But the stark reality is that the status quo in Albany has grown so intolerable that the risks of potential change are substantially outweighed by the known dysfunction of the existing form of government.

We refuse to fear democracy. Ultimately, the legitimate authority of any government is grounded in the will of the governed. A failure to refresh the form of government based on experience is a failure to refresh that wellspring of authority.

NEW PALTZ — Fixing property taxes and education in New York is an uphill battle, but a constitutional convention might provide a solution — if citizens take the reins.

“The people don’t feel the legislators are working for them because [Albany] is so backlogged,” Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb said Tuesday at the town community center.

About 10 people heard the discussion on the future of a state constitutional convention. Besides Republican Kolb, speakers included Assembly Democrat Richard Brodsky and Pete Healey, founder of the local Proportional Representation Party. He sponsored the event to promote an alternative way to solve problems in Albany.

The state Constitution allows a constitutional convention every 20 years. The next one cannot be held until 2017 by this method.

But a convention can also be provided for by an act of the Legislature and then consequently submitted for voter approval, Kolb said.

Kolb has introduced legislation that, if passed, would put the question on the November ballot.

It is not easy. The last convention was in 1967. It ended with voters turning down all proposals made by the convention. More conventions were proposed in 1977 and 1997 but never approved.

“The danger of the convention is you don’t know what it will be when you go in,” said Brodsky, assemblyman for the 92nd District. “When we call for a convention we should have a proposal of what it will look like when we are done.”

Other fears discussed involved how delegates could be chosen to prevent Albany, rather than the citizens, from controlling the convention. Kolb’s proposal would prevent politicians and lobbyists from being delegates, but that hinges on approval of the legislators themselves.

Cost is another concern for a state in debt. The 1967 convention cost $10 million over the five months it was in session. With inflation, legislators estimate that it could cost about $20 million depending on its length.

The hurdles can be overcome. “When people become dissatisfied and want change out of a fundamental belief that life cannot be sustained under the current system — then we will see the change,” said Brodsky.

Among those speaking were Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Democrat  and Republican Minority Leader Brian Kolb.   

Kolb has been traveling the state lobbying for the constitutional convention.

“I think this is an important opportunity for people at home, average citizens across our state, who believe that state government has lost its way; an opportunity to see if we can, in a non-partisan fashion, try to create some positive change in New York State government,” he said.

Should voters approve holding a constitutional convention, delegates would be chosen by circulating petitions.

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/February/03/ConCon-03Feb10.html

Last summer, I shared with News readers my call for convening a People’s Convention to Reform New York, a nonpartisan, grass-roots-driven effort to empower citizens to take back their state government and deliver critical fiscal and governmental reforms. Since then, the arguments in support for a People’s Convention have only strengthened.

Taxpayers of all parties and from across all regions of New York believe their state government has stopped working for them. They are fed up, frustrated and angry-and they have every right to be: State government has grown too big, costly and removed from the everyday lives and real needs of the people it is supposed to serve.

Issues that could be considered during a People’s Convention include fiscal reforms, such as a property tax and state spending cap, debt reform, along with a ban on “back-door” borrowing and unfunded mandates. Governmental reforms, such as initiative and referendum, an independent legislative redistricting commission, term limits for legislative leaders, ethics reform and a succession plan for state offices, could also be taken up.

To make this reform a reality, we have introduced nonpartisan legislation, the People’s Convention to Reform New York Act, Assembly Bill A. 9157. This legislation does not point fingers or play the Albany “blame game.” Instead, it is a nonpartisan attempt to solve a major problem.

If enacted, the bill would put the question of whether New York should convene a People’s Convention on the 2010 ballot. By law, this question automatically goes before voters in 2017; our nonpartisan measure moves up the opportunity for reform by seven years.
This legislation is unique in that it specifically requires any elected official seeking to run as a delegate for, or serve in, the People’s Convention to resign his office. By keeping the politicians and lobbyists out, we can ensure the People’s Convention effort remains of, by and for the people.

Our initiative has been co-sponsored by 36 members of our Assembly Republican Conference, Assemblyman Mark Schroeder, a member of the Democratic majority, and more than 40 local municipalities. It also has support from more than 1,800 New Yorkers who visited www.reformny.org and signed our online petition calling for a People’s Convention. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Gov. Mario Cuomo and current Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky all support the idea of a People’s Constitutional Convention.

If you support the cause of nonpartisan, grass-roots reform, then please join Assemblyman Jack Quinn, Assemblyman Steve Hawley, Assemblywoman Jane Corwin and me for our People’s Convention to Reform New York Town Hall Meeting. The meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p. m. on Feb. 18 in Union Pleasant Elementary School located at 150 Pleasant Ave. in Hamburg.

Brian M. Kolb is leader of the Assembly Republican Conference.

http://www.buffalonews.com/149/story/942897.html

The feedback, views and opinions received at the Town Hall meetings will help shape Kolb’s public policy agenda during the 2010 legislative session. Issues to be discussed include the need for a comprehensive statewide economic development program to create more private sector jobs; a property tax and state spending cap; state government ethics reform, and a “People’s Convention to Reform New York.”

WHO: Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb (R,I,C-Canandaigua)

WHEN: Saturday, January 30, 2010 WHERE: 10:00 – 10:45 am -

Lodi Town Hall 8440 Main Street, Lodi 11:00 – 11:45 am -

Varick Town Hall 4782 Route 96, Romulus 1:00 – 1:45 pm -

Magee Fire Hall 1807 Route 318, Seneca Falls

CONTACT: Joshua Fitzpatrick, (518) 455-3751, (518) 542-2413