August 7th, 2009

From Politics on the Hudson
Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, said a “People’s Constitutional Convention” is the answer to the public’s frustration with the growing “dysfunction, gridlock and partisanship” at the Capitol. He is introducing legislation that would put the question about holding a convention on the ballot in 2010, when all 212 state lawmakers and four statewide officials are up for election or re-election.

Delegates to the convention could take up issues like putting caps on state spending and property taxes, giving voters the power to recall elected state officials they are not satisfied with, and setting up an initiative and referendum system that would allow the public to vote on issues and have the results be binding. Other topics could include debt reform, term limits for legislative leaders, non-partisan redistricting reform, and establishing a system of filling vacancies in the offices of lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller and New York’s U.S. senators.

Kolb’s legislation would prohibit future delegates from holding public or political office. No elected officials or registered lobbyists could run as delegates.

“An alarming collusion between the special interests and Albany’s entrenched status quo has drowned out the people’s voice from state government,” Kolb said in a statement. “It’s time the people were heard—one of the best ways to accomplish this is through holding a Constitutional Convention.”

The question of whether the state should hold a constitutional convention is put before voters every 20 years. The last time was in 1997, when it was rejected. Another way of getting a constitutional convention is through legislation to ask voters whether they want a convention. New York has had these conventions in 1777, 1801, 1846, 1867, 1894, 1938 and 1967.

“Our conference has not been alone in calling for comprehensive reforms in how state government operates,” Kolb said. “Countless grassroots, good-government groups have been advocating similar reforms, only to fall on Albany’s deaf ears. It has become clear that the only way real change is going to happen is if the people make it happen—and enough New Yorkers raise their voices and demand it.”