The real fight begins in November…if we’re lucky
In the wake of Republican Joe Bruno’s decision to step down as head of the State Senate, more and more attention is focused on what will happen if Democrats take control of the State Senate in November. In this event, the current Democratic Minority leader, Malcolm Smith, will likely take over as majority leader. From what I’ve heard, Smith is pretty amenable to reform. The WHAM 13 blog has a bit more about Smith, and I’ll be on the look out for a more complete profile.
The important thing to keep in mind about Albany is that it is widely seen as one of the most corrupt state governments in the entire country. The definitive study of NYS government is the Brennan Report (pdf). This summary of the state’s shortcomings is quite damning:
Few Committee Hearings. Only 0.5% of the major bills passed by the Assembly and 0.7% of the major bills passed by the Senate from 1997 through 2001 were the subject of a hearing devoted to their consideration.
Few Committee Reports. Only 1.1% of the major bills passed by the Assembly and 0% of the major bills passed by the Senate from 1997 through 2001 were the subject of committee reports.
Proxy Voting(!!!). Senate rules permit committee members to cast their votes by proxy. Only five other legislative chambers (out of 99) – including only one other chamber comparable to New York’s “professional” legislature, the Pennsylvania Senate – allow proxy voting in committee.
Central Control of Committee Staff. In New York, the Assembly Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader hire – and have the power to fire – committee staff. New York’s two chambers are among only 32 (out of 99) that give any role at all to the legislative leadership or party caucuses. In fact, 26 state legislatures rely on a central, nonpartisan staff agency for their committee staff support. New York’s centralized control over staff discourages committee chairpersons from developing and promoting legislation without leadership support.(exclamation points mine)
Flipping the Senate is just the beginning. Real change will come when legislative reform is enacted…and it will be a tough fight to get that done.
Great point.
With the FISA debacle in the House, Democrats are finding out that there are two challenges: first flipping the chamber, then getting rid of some of the members of the “party of government”. We have the same challenge in the NYS Senate and Assembly.
[...] Skelos takes over. Of course - as exile points out, correctly, the real fight in the State Government begins in November, It doesn’t end on election day. That same logic applies at the local and national level as [...]