|
|
||||||||||
Home
/ News
/ Press Releases / Testimony
/ Legislation
/ On
the Issues / Newsletter / Resources
/
|
||||||||||
|
|
Our Town, February 24th, 2005 Krueger Sues Leaders – Senator Joins Legal Battle
Against Way State Does Biz Alina Larson State Senator Liz Krueger had a special Valentine’s Day gift for the Governor: She sued him. On February 14th, Krueger, Assemblyman Tom Kirwan, a Republican from Newburgh, and the Urban Justice Center filed a lawsuit against Governor George Pataki, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and the New York State Senate and Assembly. The suit challenges various rules and practices that allegedly contribute to discrimination against members of the minority parties. As a Democrat, Krueger is in the minority in the Senate as Kirwan is as a Republican in the Assembly. “Proposals that would fundamentally challenges the anti-democratic procedures of the State Legislature have been blocked,” Krueger said. “I therefore reluctantly turn to the courts and ask for their assistance in ensuring that all New Yorkers receive the equal protection and representation they are entitled to under the State Constitution.” She stressed those points when she first ran and lost against long-time Republican incumbent Senator Roy Goodman in 2000 and then again when she beat Assemblyman John Ravitz for Goodman’s seat in a February 2002 special election when the Senator resigned. Krueger’s Chief of Staff, Brad Usher, said: [The New York Legislature’s dysfunction] has been a problem for ages. But certain individual personalities make it worse. In the Senate in recent years it’s gotten worse. There have been changes in the rules to make the process even less fair.” Usher said in 2002 Krueger created a package of reforms and circulated it to college and advocacy groups. In 2003, hearings, experts and former legislative staffers helped refine the issues. Their proposal of changes was voted down. In November 2004, the Senator released a statement warning the legislature that is changes weren’t made, she would sue. In January, “the Assembly made modest reforms and the Senate did even less,” said Usher. Among the practices challenged in the complaint are the following: unequal funding of member support, unequal funding for district projects; placing insurmountable obstacles to discharge motions, secret debates and votes, abuse of messages of necessity and leadership control over member pay. Assemblyman Kirwan asserts that the constituents suffer most. “By us not getting the same staffing allowances, for example, this does a couple of things,” he said. “One, our people aren’t getting equal representation. The constituents justify our existence. The more staff you have the better level of service your constituents get. And two, it gives the leaders extraordinary power.” The reform called for in the lawsuit incorporate a recent report of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. “The report came about as a result of discussions with people across the state – business groups, social services providers, housing groups – they all had the same complaint,” said Jeremy Creelan, Deputy Director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy program. “Even if they disagreed ideologically on the substance of a policy issue, they all agreed they were being stymied by a process in Albany that was broken. I was interested in finding out what the dysfunction was and understanding the life of a bill in Albany. We did an 18-month research project, which culminated in a report and recommendation. We’re now building a coalition and we have over 85 organizations pushing for reform.” The plaintiffs are represented by the Urban Justice Center and Evan David, former counsel to Governor Mario Cuomo. “I had an idea for this lawsuit seven or eight years ago,” said Doug Lasdon, Urban Justice Center Director. “I see this as a poor persons’ issue. In a democracy it’s hard enough for people to be heard, but when three people are making decisions in the back room it makes it even harder. That’s a form of government that favors the most powerful interests.” So far, responses to the lawsuit have been brief. Pataki’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Eileen Larrabee from the Assembly press office said, “We’ve not seen the details of the lawsuit so we couldn’t comment.” Mark Hansen, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, said the Senator “believes the suit is a political ploy. The campaigns were over in November. We need to focus on governing and getting a new budget in place on time.” |
||||||||
