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Hawley says now is the time for rules reform

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) today called on the Legislature to pass a comprehensive Assembly Rules Reform package. Hawley said this legislation cannot be delayed any longer in the wake of major scandals involving top House leadership. The proposals are aimed at greatly improving openness, transparency and accountability.  

“The people of New York deserve a higher standard of government,” Hawley said. “These reforms will stand in stark contrast to the sea of corruption we have seen over the past few years. The public is sick and tired of lies, backroom deals and the secrecy that has shrouded the Legislature for years. It is long past the time to shed some light on our internal workings. I have included my own proposal in this package that would mandate a two-thirds vote in the House to pass a message of necessity.

"This would prevent future abuses such as the SAFE Act from coming to the floor for a vote before proper debate and discussion has been initiated. I am calling on my Assembly colleagues across the aisle, who called for these very same proposals weeks ago, to stand with us today and bring this legislation to the floor for a vote.”

Hawley’s comments come after a press conference was held in Albany today by Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb (R,C-Canandaigua) to introduce legislation to overhaul the Assembly’s rules. Highlights of the package include term limits for legislative leaders and committee chairs, and allowing each member of the Assembly to bring one piece of substantial legislation to the floor for a vote.

Dave Olsen

there needs to be term limits for every member of the assembly and the senate. Plus, do we really need 150 assemblymen and 63 senators? According to Wikipedia, the NYS legislature employs 2700 people.

Let that one sink in.

Remember, they all get a salary, plus benefits, plus state retirement.

You want to reform the assembly, Mr. Hawley? Then let's RE FORM it into something that can be reigned in. How about a Constitutional convention, with the counties electing their delegates, not appointed toadys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Legislature

Mar 5, 2015, 10:10am Permalink
Dave Olsen

We've had this discussion before, more thanonce. Howard. I'll just say that we've had decades of the same people hanging on to their jobs and Gerrymandering the districts so as to keep them, and not only is it not getting better, it is in fact worse, much worse. I think we should also slice the lawmaker's salaries down to a stipend and no retirement, then see if they want to stay there for 30 years. New faces, fresh ideas and real world perspectives surely can't hurt.

Mar 5, 2015, 10:57am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Fix Gerrymandering.

Fix partisan politics.

These are real reforms.

Term limits are a band-aid that accomplish nothing except provide the illusion of real reform. That's why I oppose them so strongly. They fix nothing, but act as an opiate to fool people into thinking reform has taken place.

I think there's something to be said for experience and you lose that with term limits. You're throwing the baby out with the bathwater, to coin a phrase.

Mar 5, 2015, 11:05am Permalink
Dave Olsen

The baby will grow up to be a corrupt politician, guaranteed so yeah throw it out. There is something to be said for experience - just depends on what that experience is. If one has a lot of experience is lying and cheating, then why keep them around so they can just get better at it? It is all pieces of the same pie, Howard. Can't have one without the others.

Mar 5, 2015, 11:43am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

I'll never been convinced that making a change just for the sake of making a change is a good idea. Term limits fix nothing. Benefit no one. Change nothing. Do absolutely no good. So what's the reason to it? Just so people feel like something's been done? Meanwhile, real reforms, reforms that will actually fix the sytem go undone because people can say, "we did term limits."

Mar 5, 2015, 11:49am Permalink
Dave Olsen

Likewise I will never be convinced that allowing some fatcat to stay in office for 20 and 30 years, disconnected from the people they serve and allying with each other to preserve their statuses helps anyone else. I love quotes from the founders of this nation, and here is a good one:
“Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens.” George Mason

Mar 5, 2015, 12:08pm Permalink
Brian Graz

I for one agree with Assemblyman Hawley, that "the public is sick and tired of lies, backroom deals and the secrecy" that been the norm in Albany for way too long. But, I believe the people are also sick and tired of the rhetoric, empty promises, and vague or misleading proposals.... I know I am.

Let's focus on this latest press release from Representative Hawley. He states that he's called on the Assembly to pass a comprehensive Assembly Rules Reform package. How many of the voters know what this package consists off? Yet he says this is to improve openness, transparency???

The other point that is beyond ridiculous is Hawley's proposal to mandate a 2/3 majority requirement "to pass a message of necessity", which "would prevent future abuses such as the SAFE Act..."
REALLY??!!!! The SAFE Act received more than 2/3 Yea votes from BOTH the Assembly and the Senate. Rep Hawley you were there... weren't you?

NYSAFE Vote Tally:
Assembly members - 150 [104Y / 43N / 3A]
Senate members - 63 [43Y / 18N / 1A / 1V]

Mar 5, 2015, 2:35pm Permalink
david spaulding

The people we are talking about here are the same ones who can partake at insider trading while not committing a crime, right? These people are above the law, the very laws that you and I will be prosecuted for if we don't obey them. I have no faith in them and will never be able to trust a word they say. During election time, my favorite lie stated by All of them is "I will create jobs", the only jobs they create are government jobs, the last thing we need. ....... Where can one find and read the "assembly rules reform" package? thanks .....

Mar 5, 2015, 4:21pm Permalink

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