Patrick D.
Healy
A Democratic senator and a Republican
assemblyman sued their own Legislature, its two leaders and Gov. George E.
Pataki on Tuesday, alleging that the three men run the Capitol like a
political machine to centralize power and money in their hands - to the
detriment of New Yorkers whose views are in the minority.
The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan,
is not only a salvo for reforming politics-as-usual in Albany, but also an
attempt to establish an expansive legal principle about the rights of
minority-party legislators in a multiparty democracy, lawyers for the two
lawmakers said yesterday.
The suit is also about perks: The legislators, Senator
Liz Krueger of Manhattan and Assemblyman Tom Kirwan of Newburgh, said they
were challenging the fact that members of the majority parties in each
chamber enjoy spacious offices, larger staffs, closed-door decision-making,
more pork-barrel spending, the authority to schedule floor votes on bills,
and extra-large stipends.
These majorities, Democrats in the Assembly and
Republicans in the Senate, have long imposed rules on minority members like
Mr. Kirwan and Ms. Krueger that leave many of them with comparably little
influence to shape legislation and secure financing for projects in their
districts.
The two lawmakers pressed for new rules during the
winter but failed to persuade their colleagues, who did pass some reforms,
including requiring Assembly members to be present to vote on bills.
"I represent 315,000 constituents, and I'm not able
to represent them fully under the Senate majority's rules," Ms.
Krueger said in an interview on Tuesday. "The voters are supposed to
be able to hire or fire me. But the rules don't let me do my job."
Mr. Kirwan added, "I'm an oppressed member of the
minority over here, and it's time to do something about it." He noted
that his staff, a full-time aide and four part-timers, is smaller than
those of many of his Democratic colleagues, even though each member
represents roughly same number of New Yorkers.
The legal action, which asserts violations of equal
protection and free speech provisions in the United States and New York
Constitutions, is also intended to protect the rights of low-income New Yorkers
whose interests may not be adequately represented by backroom power
brokers, said Doug Lasdon, a lawyer for the legislators.
"It's hard enough for poor New Yorkers to be heard
in a democracy, but it's nearly impossible when it's just three powerful
men meeting behind closed doors," said Mr. Lasdon, who is also
director of the Urban Justice Center, which joined in the suit.
The legal action drew a sharp rebuke from the Senator
Joseph L. Bruno, the Republican majority leader, who, along with Sheldon
Silver, the Assembly speaker, was named in the suit. "I guess if I
were in the minority and I couldn't win the majority in fair elections,
then I would try and play any game that I could play to disrupt or, you
know, denigrate," Mr. Bruno said. "This is a campaign ploy. It's
a sham."
A spokesman for Mr. Silver said the speaker had not seen
the lawsuit and declined to comment.
But a spokesman for the governor, Todd Alhart, said,
"No one has done more to try and open up the state budget process and
encourage input from members of the Legislature than Governor Pataki."
