April 22nd, 2010

By Jamie Larson

A town hall meeting was held Wednesday night at the Hudson Elk’s Lodge by state representatives to gain support for new legislation which would move up the date of the next public vote on moving up the date of the next New York State Constitutional Convention, from 2017 to this November.

The meeting was led by State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R,C,I-Canandaigua, and local Assemblyman Marcus Molinaro, R,C,I-Red Hook.

The officials said that the bipartisan effort to create what they call a “People’s Convention to Reform New York,” is currently the best plan to reform what is seen by many as a broken and wasteful state political structure.

Kolb said that there are both good and bad people and ideas in both the Republican and Democratic parties in Albany but nothing is getting done and public evaluation of the state constitution needs to happen now and can’t wait until the next time it is mandated to come to a vote in 2017.

First, however, an up or down vote in both the state legislative bodies on “The People’s Convention to Reform New York Act,” Assembly Bill A9157, would be needed to allow a convention on the ballot this year.

While he said there is opposition in both houses to the idea, now it is time for proponents of the idea to rally support and contact their representatives.

“There is a growing feeling among New Yorkers that their state government is not working for them,” said Kolb, “that it’s grown too costly, unresponsive and disconnected from the lives of those it was supposed to serve. It is time New Yorkers took their state government back.”

At the outset of the meeting he asked for a show of hands from the audience to see how many people thought government in Albany was working for them. Not one arm was raised. He said a people’s convention would take important decisions that politicians can’t or won’t sort out out of their hands and give them to state residents.

If the legislature does allow a vote on the convention in November and it is passed by state residents the whole process would take roughly two years according to Kolb.

Each of the 64 state senatorial districts would receive three convention delegates. Delegates would be elected by their districts and could not be serving elected officials or registered lobbyists.

Those delegates would go to Albany where they would draft constitutional revisions, relating to procedural issues like term limits, spending and borrowing caps, and other governmental reforms.

The convention would vote on which reforms to then send back to the voters of the state for another vote for approval. All the reforms can be voted on by citizens one by one or in an overall package.

Kolb stressed that he is not asking people to create a new process but to simply move the vote on the convention from 2017 to 2010.

“Hudson Valley families want real reform in Albany, especially given this year’s late state budget,” Molinaro said. “Genuine ideas to improve our state government like a ‘people’s convention to reform New York’ resonates with the constituents in my district. Citizens are demanding results.”

To reach reporter Jamie Larson, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2269, or e-mail jlarson@registerstar.com.

http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2010/04/22/news/doc4bcfb80aa7244204845304.txt