New York voters are beginning to realize it really is time for a New York State Constitutional Convention. There have been whacky loopholes that have made our political process and the Albany legislature a disgrace.
First, there was the overturning of the city’s term limits law by a handful of politicians – many of whom had a vested part in the outcome. Never mind that the issue had been brought to a full statewide referendum not once but twice and defeated. Bloomberg wanted to run for a third term and he got it.
He has even reportedly been heard to slip and utter the words Fourth Term.
The State Constitution has to be changed to reflect the will of the people, who voted down third terms and by extension fourth terms too.
More importantly, the State Constitution did not provide adequate checks and balances on the succession of the Governor’s office. Caught in a sex scandal, newly elected Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned from office and Lieutenant Governor, David A. Paterson succeeded him as per the Constitution.
Then, in the bizarre world of Albany politics, Senators are switching parties, locking doors and shutting down the business of governing the State of New York all because there is no mechanism constitutionally for replacing the Lieutenant Governor’s position. This must be fixed as soon as possible.
Additionally, just last week, The New York Times ran a story that named five upstate lawmakers who are earning state legislative pensions as high as $80,000 per year on top of legislative salaries of up to $104,500. In four of the cases, the legislators were in the same jobs from which they were also “retired.” In the fifth case the lawmaker retired from the Assembly after he won a Senate seat.
This kind of double dipping is legal. A lawmaker 65 or older who wins reelection simply files retirement papers on the last day of the term, December 31, and becomes eligible for monthly pension payments. No permission from any government entity is needed to do this.
Think State Constitutional Convention. We need to return credibility via checks and balances to a system that is broken.
