An Indictment, a "Public" Hearing, and a New Ad

Corruption & Reform

Monday morning began as unfortunately many mornings began this session with more indictments of legislators – in the Senate, once again.  There ensued several local television appearances to discuss corruption and reform.   As session began, there was clearly nothing else on the legislative agenda except the chilling effect of more corruption charges.

On Tuesday morning, NYPIRG held a press conference and released a report finding over 100,000 violations of NYS campaign finance laws in the past two years, and pointing out that the NYC Campaign Finance Board has been more responsive in responding to violations than has the state Board of Elections.  The report was released on Tuesday to counteract the Senate Republican’s “public” hearing that day, which was sham attempt by the Senate Republicans to discredit the NYC’s public financing system, the system upon which the Fair Elections legislation is based.   All of the good government groups participated in the press conference with a united message for a need for comprehensive campaign finance reform, including all of the reforms for which the league has lobbied in past decades.  The good government then groups walked en mass from the LOB to the capitol to attend and listen to what was supposed to be a public hearing.  Since the invitation was issued as a public hearing, we clearly anticipated that the public would be allowed to attend.  As we approached capitol 124 – which is where many standing committee hearings are held, but is not where public hearings are usually heard – we were told that the room was at capacity and the door was shut in our faces.  Even as people exited the hearing, no one else was allowed in, as is usually the case with public hearings at capacity. 

Citizen Action, MoveOn, and Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Albany had organized a rally to show support of public financing and protest the influence of big money in politics.  The rally was planned to be a silent protest.  Only after it was established that no one could get into the “public” hearing did the crowd outside become loud.  Chants of “let the public in” could be heard throughout the capitol and, we are told, within the meeting room.  When a window was opened inside the hearing room, protesters went outside to the open window, tossed dollar bills into the window and stage-whispered questions and comments like “How much does it cost?”

Several of the good government groups, including the League, sent a letter to the NYS Committee on Open Government, urging the committee the investigate the Senate’s breach of the Open Meetings law and to formally censure the Senate Elections Committee for shutting on the public on Tuesday.  The Committee on Open Government ruled that the senate was indeed in violation of the Open Meetings law, that the meeting should have been moved to a larger room, and that the crowd could have been told to leave if they had then disrupted the hearing.

Later on Tuesday afternoon, Speaker Silver’s Fair Elections Act passed in the assembly, with a vote of 88-50.

Women’s Equality Push Heats Up

Some more exciting news this week is that a new media campaign for WEA was launched Tuesday – Check it out!

Legislative meetings on the WEA have been taking place at a furious pace and we will be asking leagues to come to a rally day for Women’s Equality on June 4^th.  Busses to Albany will be provided around the state.  It will be a major day, with celebrities and music, and voices raised to demand equality – so save the date!   We’ll be sending out more details as we get closer to the date.  We hope to have a huge league presence at the rally!

Early Voting, GENDA, and Broken Records

Updates from Last Week

 Last Tuesday, the Assembly passed both GENDA (the Gender Non-Discrimination Act, A.4226/S.00195) and Speaker Silver's early voting bill (A.00689).  Opponents to GENDA rolled out the tired bathroom argument again during the floor debate, mischaracterizing the bill as granting ill-intentioned men license to access women's bathrooms, a straw-man that the bill's sponsor Assemblymember Gottfried fiercely shot down. Referring to the 16 states and many cities that have already enacted gender expression anti-discrimination laws, he shouted “Give me one example, one example, of that happening!”  Later, during the debate on early voting, concerns from the opposition mainly focused on unfunded mandates on localities.  Democrats countered that, in instituting early voting, no new Board of Elections would need to be hired.  Of course, if the Senate hadn't blocked efforts last year to create a single primary date, there would certainly be enough funds to deal with any cost arising from early voting.

The Assemblymembers arguing against GENDA weren't the only broken records at the capitol last week.  Last Tuesday was also NYS Right to Life lobby day.  They were there to lobby against the Women's Equality Agenda, but their numbers have certainly decreased over the years.  As we walked around the LOB and capitol, their presence was relatively invisible.  Nevertheless, members of the NY for Women's Equality (the WEA coalition), including ourselves, again countered with packages of fact sheets wrapped around broken record pieces delivered to every legislator.  The tactic, used in previous years, highlighted the same tired arguments and flat out lies that abortion opponents having been using for decades to oppose measures to protect women's health.

Our week at the Capitol ended at a Wednesday press conference where Senator Cecilia Tkaczyk and Assemblyman Kevin Cahill announced two pieces of legislation aimed at protecting voting rights and ensuring that all votes are counted.  S.4270/A.6817 and S. 4269 would prevent affidavit ballots from being disqualified for insignificant, hyper technical reasons, as long as the voter is eligible, registered and in substantial compliance with voting regulations and remove the restriction on when a county board of elections can provide ballots to election inspectors problems that came up during the over 2 month recount of ballots from her election.

 Upcoming

Check in on Wednesday for a post on the latest corruption scandal and the Senate Republicans “hearings” on public financing.

Students, Memos, and Hearings

For those wondering about the lapse in our blogging last week, we were busy chaperoning fifty-five talented, inquisitive, and just generally amazing high school students who came to Albany from across New York State to participate in the League’s Students Inside Albany (SIA) conference.  SIA is an intensive four day training experience that is designed to immerse students in the process by which public policy is proposed, enacted and changed in New York State and educate them as to how they can influence and affect this process. .  The students spent four packed days learning about New York State government, lobbying, voting, the judicial system, and the legislature, where they spent two days shadowing their legislators.  They even got to have a mock debate on the floor of the Assembly, thanks to Assemblymember  Pete Lopez.  Check out LWVNY’s website for photos of the conference.   Big thanks to all of the staff, chaperones, speakers, local leagues, legislators, and students who made this year’s SIA such a wonderful experience!

Last week also saw bill A1046 appear on the agenda of the Assembly Codes Committee, where it passed.  The bill requires that all waste resulting from the exploration, development, extraction and production of crude oil and natural gas that meets the definition of hazardous waste be subject to the same laws regarding generation, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal as other hazardous wastes.  The League put out a memo in strong support of A1046, as we have for the past couple years that the bill has been introduced and passed in the Assembly.  A1046 has moved on to the Ways and Means Committee, where we will track its progress.  The bill’s same-as, S674, is currently sitting in the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, where it has yet to see any action, even though all four members of the IDC are cosponsors of the bill.  Keep a look out for League memos and action alerts should S674 make its way onto the committee’s agenda.

This week, Assemblymember Gottfried’s single payer healthcare bill, A5389, passed in the Assembly Health Committee.  The bill has long floated around the Assembly and hasn’t seen a vote on the floor since 1992, when it was first introduced and passed in the Assembly and died in the Senate.   Nevertheless, the League has continuously advocated for the bill, knowing that a single payer health coverage program would save lives and give all New Yorkers the healthcare many so desperately need.  You can read the League’s most recent memo in support of the legislation here.
Finally, in the mist of the recent increased flurry of dialogue on campaign finance reform, the Senate Republicans have taken aim at public financing of campaigns.  In early May, the Senate Election Law Committee will hold a public hearing on the “abuses of the New York City public financing system.” 

Starting May 1, the IDC will be holding their own public hearings on campaign finance reform throughout the state.  The League, which has applauded the IDC’s comprehensive campaign finance reform proposal, will be testifying at at least one of the IDC’s hearings – check back soon for more info.

And we thought it would be a slow week...

Political Scandal

With the legislature not in session this week, we weren’t expecting to have much to blog about.  However, as you have probably already heard, New York has once again found itself embroiled in yet another political corruption scandal.  On Tuesday, New York State Senator Malcolm Smith was arrested, along with several other lawmakers, by federal law enforcement in connection to a scheme to bribe Republican officials into letting Smith run as a GOP candidate for mayor of New York City.  The scandal, which included plans to use state money in the scheme, highlights the “pay-to-play” culture that permeates New York politics.  On Wednesday, the League joined with NYPIRG, Citizen Action, and the Sierra Club to hold a press conference outside of the Senate chambers calling upon Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature to help end political corruption and restore New Yorker’s faith in their government via passing a comprehensive campaign finance reform package, which would include contribution limits, strong enforcement, an end to "pay-to-play," and a publicly financed small donor matching system.  The press conference was well-attended by the press and Barbara really drove home the need to address the “pay –to-play” culture in Albany and  the point that comprehensive campaign finance reform legislation would make a huge stride towards that end.

And it seems this is the week for corruption, as just today, another five people, including Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, were arrested on bribery charges. Assemblymember Nelson Castro has also resigned as part of a plea bargain for being a "cooperating witness".  He had been indicted in a sealed indictment in 2009 as part of a voter fraud case by the Bronx DA and then became the witness for the US attorney.

 

The Barbs Talk Women’s Equality

 

This week the state league also hosted a conference call for league members to provide info and updates and answer questions about the Women’s Equality Agenda & Coalition.  Over 20 league members from across the state called in to listen to Barbara Bartoletti and Pay-Equity Issue Co-Specialist, Barbara Thomas discuss the Women’s Equality Agenda, the League’s role in the coalition, and what local leagues can do and are doing in the regional women’s equality coalitions around the state.  There was a lot of excitement on the call, demonstrating the energy, commitment, and experience local leagues are bringing to their regional coalitions.  Those on the call reported that they have already been scheduling legislative meetings to show their support for the Women’s Equality Agenda (along with the other items in the legislative packet this session – Campaign Finance Reform and Early Voting).  In addition, the Women’s Equality Agenda regional press conferences have kicked off this week and, as the callers reported, will be well-attended by the League.  These calls may become a regular happening, so please join us for the next one!