Issues: August 2008 Archives

By becoming the first state to legislatively enact marriage equality, New York can be a model of tolerance to the rest of the nation and a state whose residents can all raise strong families. Governor Paterson's recent directive that all state agencies must recognize same-sex marriages from out of state is an encouraging first step. It is past time that our state legislature enacts full marriage equality.

Beyond the moral imperative that should compel state action on the issue, marriage equality will be an economic boon for the state. A study by UCLA estimates that California will enjoy nearly a $65 billion boost to state coffers as a result of the recent California Supreme Court decision in favor of marriage equality. It pays to do the right thing.

I also support the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), a proposed bill that would outlaw discrimination of transgender, transsexual, and gender-variant New Yorkers in the workplace, housing, and public accommodations.

I support mayoral control of the New York public school system. Parents deserve a say in their children's education, so they should be able to vote for the lawmakers who are responsible for the policies implemented by their school system. For this reason, mayoral control should be renewed in 2009.

However, change is needed. As it stands, the state has relinquished too much control over the schools, leading to a lack of accountability and insufficient opportunities for input from students, parents, and teachers. Parent coordinators are not filling the role they should, acting as a conduit between parents and the administration. When legislators vote for renewal of mayoral control, they can include provisions that would require the state to sponsor parent, student, and teacher watchdog groups in order to ensure that the public schools are meeting the needs of the people they serve. The state should also include provisions in education appropriations that would make funds conditional upon the City Council enacting legislation that would make the system more accountable.

The state should also expand educational opportunities by providing universal pre-kindergarten facilities, so that every child is given a solid beginning to their education, regardless of socioeconomic status. I also support reducing tuition for SUNY and CUNY schools.

It's time to incentivize innovative practices to turn developers into a force for environmental good. Lawmakers must provide a framework so that development will occur in a way that will minimize adverse environmental impact, preserve the existing character of a community, and improve it for the future.

In Albany, I will work to put in place incentives to encourage the implementation of green technologies by developers operating in the state. For state-funded projects, like new public housing facilities, lawmakers should make green technology a part of the bidding process. Government contracts should be awarded not just based on which contractor can accomplish a task at the lowest cost, but also based on who can best integrate technologies that will provide for the long-term environmental interest of the community. I believe that our state government can lead developers to put New York City on the path to becoming a model for responsible environmental stewardship.

A new version of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan that was killed by Speaker Silver this year will cut down on the traffic that contributes to the district's high childhood asthma rates and will provide the state with the funds necessary to repair our city's deteriorating public transportation infrastructure. With three major bridges, residents of our district bear an unfair proportion of Manhattan's traffic pollution.

By ensuring that the people who can utilize public transportation do so and by promoting carpooling, congestion pricing will get vehicles off the streets. And traffic gridlock isn't just a public health and safety issue; it also costs us money. The Partnership for New York City conservatively places the cost of traffic congestion at $13 billion a year.

New York State is facing a fiscal crisis, with projected deficits soaring to $6.4 billion. Congestion pricing plan could have secured up to $354 million dollars in federal grant money if it had been enacted in March. The plan would also generate a projected $500 million annually for the MTA, money that could be used to renovate a crumbling and outdated system that needs improvement in order to keep the city moving forward. Increased revenue would help the MTA avoid the ensuing rate hike that will financially constrain working families in Lower Manhattan.

I will work to see that a new and improved plan is passed. A new plan should also address the burdens that such a plan will put upon small businesses and will properly address its impact on low-income neighborhoods and areas that do not have access to public transportation.

Universal healthcare is the most practical and cost-effective solution to our state's healthcare problems. By insuring the entire population, New Yorkers will make more regular visits to the doctor and fewer visits to the emergency room, and families will not be forced to make the horrifying decision between purchasing food and prescription drugs.

The federal government has proven unable to form the coalition necessary to pass national universal healthcare. Until our nation's leaders join the ranks of every other industrialized nation and insure the entire population, New York should follow the example of Massachusetts and institute statewide universal healthcare.

I support creating more local primary health care clinics, so that people make more frequent visits to the doctor. This allows conditions to be diagnosed in their early stages, when treatment is less costly and more successful, relieving the health care system of the added pressure of catastrophic illness.

Debt and budget reform are first priorities in curbing New York's excessive spending and debt. I advocate limiting the amount of debt the state and its authorities can assume, restricting the use of debt to capital projects, and making debt issuance subject to more rigorous financial and public review.

I will fight to reform our budget process by requiring greater accountability, transparency, and fiscal discipline. I will fight to add accountability by providing a greater opportunity for public review, add transparency by adding and enforcing reporting requirements for public authorities, and promote fiscal discipline by requiring lump-sum appropriation awards be merit-based.

New Yorkers pay high personal income tax rates and, often, get little in return. In addition, our regressive tax system unfairly places the burden on those who can afford it least. I will fight to reduce regressive sales and property taxes with a more progressive personal income tax structure.

Under New York's current system, the Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the State Assembly are effectively given the power to draw new district lines for their own chamber every ten years. This system guarantees partisan gerrymandering that produces districts that foster non-competitive elections. When districts are drawn to protect incumbents, legislators pursue their own interests, rather than working to earn the votes of their constituents. Legislators who feel secure in their jobs due to the design of their districts simply cannot be effective representatives.

What constitutes a fairly composed district can be best weighed and prioritized by an independent commission that would propose plans to be voted upon by the State Legislature. Under such a plan, the commission would draft three potential plans based on a set of criteria and the legislature would select one of the three. I support a constitutional amendment to create such an independent commission.

Albany is legendary for political gridlock and secrecy. It's time to eliminate the rules that obstruct change and limit public debate and input. Certain arcane legislative structures allow Senate and Assembly leaders to secure narrowly defined agendas.

My opponent, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, has become entrenched in Albany by leaning heavily on his mastery of these legislative rules. As Chairman of the Rules Committee, the Speaker stands in the way of reform of rules that empower him and the Majority Leader to the detriment of the legislature as a whole. Examples include the power to fire committee staff, unilateral control over the legislative calendar, and control of funding for legislative staffs and offices. With these rules in place, representatives enact the will of the leaders rather than pursuing the interests their constituents.

I want to open up the legislative process to allow for public debate and votes on all legislation. I also support changing the rules to require frequent use of conference committees, which should be used to resolve differences between similar legislation passed in the Assembly and the Senate. Today, the Speaker and Majority Leader are given the discretion as to when to convene conference committees, which slows progress and guarantees gridlock. Differences should, instead, always be referred to and resolved in conference committees to speed resolution.

The Lower East Side, the East Village, Chinatown, and Battery Park City are in the midst of a crisis in affordable housing. People, many of whom are long-time residents, are struggling to pay their rents or have been forced to move. The development and gentrification that is taking place should not be allowed to chase people from their homes.

As the makeup of our district has changed, Speaker Sheldon Silver has not kept up with the needs of growing numbers of working families. He has instead allowed landlords to deregulate apartments and has allowed unused plots of land to go undeveloped. Through his insistence on secretly negotiating deals without the input of community members or other legislators, Silver has produced flawed legislation that has weakened affordable housing regulations.

New York's antiquated election laws are highly technical and needlessly burdensome, making it entirely too easy for incumbents to throw challengers off of the ballot. Speaker Silver has not received a primary challenge in 22 years in part because of his ability to knock challengers off of the ballot. Luke Henry successfully navigated New York's highly technical ballot access laws, but it should be easier for candidates to secure a place on the ballot. Competitive elections benefit everyone. Elections should be a battle of ideas not an exercise in clearing onerous legal obstacles.

Campaign finance reform is the reform that makes all other reform possible. That's why I support Clean Money, Clean Elections legislation that will decrease the power of incumbency and reduce the influence of special interests in New York state government. Our state has some of the weakest campaign finance laws in the country. In the special interest capital of the world, high contribution limits, loopholes, and insufficient oversight make Albany accessible to the highest bidder while closing it to the interests of voters.

Clean Money, Clean Elections is a public financing system under which potential candidates raise a number of small qualifying contributions in order to receive a lump sum of public funds with which to conduct their campaign activities. Such legislation will limit the amount of money spent in elections, make politicians accountable to the voters, and create natural term limits by making incumbents more vulnerable to challenges.

The reality is that wholesale change of the campaign finance system will take time and convincing. In the interim, I will work hard to implement immediate changes necessary to the integrity of our state's government. The most desperately needed changes include significantly reducing contribution limits, closing loopholes that allow limited liability companies and companies with subsidiaries to contribute large amounts to candidates, and creating an independent Board of Elections empowered to robustly enforce campaign finance law.