Tag: David Paterson

Categories
term limits

Banana Republic of New York

On June 8, New York state senate Republicans and two renegade Democrats acted to regain GOP control of the chamber.

Democrats tried various maneuvers to undo the coup. One was to lock the doors of the senate building.

Governor David Paterson bravely called the GOP’s re-​ascendancy an “unnecessary distraction to government dressed up in the cloak, falsely, of reform.” One supposedly bogus reform would have imposed an eight-​year term limit on committee chairman, a six-​year term limit on leadership.

Anyway, then one of the Democrats who had jumped ship to the elephant caucus decided to canter back to the donkey side of the aisle. So now there’s a 31-​to-​31 split in the senate, with no lieutenant governor in place to break any deadlocks. Paterson used to be the lieutenant governor but became governor when the previous governor resigned in disgrace after scandalizing the republic across state lines.

So, now, whenever the lawmakers bother to show up for work, the Democrats hold their own legislative session independently of the independent legislative sessions of the Republicans. No quorums there. Believe it or not, all this is an improvement over how things are normally run in Albany.

Meanwhile, recent polls say two thirds of New York voters think the state is headed in the wrong direction. And 80 percent want term limits. Huh? How can this be?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
government transparency

Too Darn Much Trouble?

I’m always a little concerned when a politician says it’s just too darn much trouble to play fair with voters and taxpayers.

New York State Governor David Paterson doesn’t want the public to have prior access to documents discussed in open public meetings. He just vetoed a bill sponsored by state Senator John A. DeFrancisco that would have required this common-​sense level of transparency.

The governor says requiring agencies to make such documents available in a timely way would “impose a serious burden on agency staff.” It could, he explains, “seriously disrupt the work of boards and commissions” in the days before a scheduled meeting.

Oh, I’m sure effort would be involved. There’s always effort when you have to do things. But these would be documents to be discussed in open public meetings. The officials attending the meetings obviously have access to the documents they’re discussing. Why shouldn’t others troubling to participate also see them? How much time does it take to scan or make an extra photocopy?

Senator DeFrancisco points out that, too often, an open meeting will be held about a document to which the public has had little or no access before the meeting. This obviously makes it harder for the public “to ask informed questions and to fully understand the document being discussed.”

But I’m sure Governor Paterson is smart enough to understand this simple fact. Maybe he understands it all too well.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.