CROSS-POSTED AT KECK FOR ASSEMBLY
Reform is such a basic concept, but yet often seems so unattainable, when one looks at the totality of reform needed in Albany. Most in New York State know that our state government is not only broken, but is considered to be the most dysfunctional state government in the nation. The Empire State has been the birthplace of many great reformers including Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and the time as come for our state to capitalize on this heritage and make real reform both our present and future. And we can start with public authority reform, which will rein in the corruption of the shadow government in New York State.
The original purpose of public authorities was to provide some sort of public service while also maintaining some sort of infrastructure needed to achieve this goal, like the
Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). According to the
New State Office of the State Comptroller:
[p]ublic authorities were created to finance, construct and operate revenue-producing facilities for the public benefit, and/or to coordinate the work needed to develop or manage resources that benefit the public.
In addition, public authorities have the power to issue debt, levy and charge fees without legislative oversight. From a February 2005
press release from the Office of New York State Comptroller:
Attorney General Spitzer said, "The lack of oversight in public authorities has produced scandal and inefficiency. The reforms we are proposing today will raise ethical standards, increase accountability and enhance the performance of the authorities. I urge the Executive and the Legislature to work together to implement them as soon as possible."
Because of this lack of oversight, some authorities have become a breeding ground for political cronyism and corruption at the expense of the taxpayer, which can be best seen in the cases of
Metropolitan Transit Authority and the
New York Racing Association.
In order to work towards to a more accountable and transparent government, a team of elected officials have joined together to investigate the problem, propose solutions, and implement these solutions through both legislative and administrative action. From the New York Times:
The leaders in this effort - Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Democrat from Westchester; State Senator Vincent Leibell, a Republican from Patterson; and Comptroller Alan Hevesi - should get together quickly to finish the job.
State Comptroller Hevesi has been quietly using his office for several years to implement reform in state government, and in March 2006 his office published a report titled
The Agenda for Reform:
Reforming New York State government is not a choice, but a necessity. In an increasingly competitive world, New York must operate its government as efficiently, effectively and responsively as possible to give our citizens and businesses the best chance to succeed.
There are cynics who say New York is so dysfunctional today that it can't change. I strongly disagree. Reform efforts already have produced important results, and that means that reform is possible in New York.
In this report, the State Comptroller details various aspects of needed change including public authorities and campaign finance reform. In addition to explaining the problems, the report offers real solutions, some of which have been implemented to a certain degree. As noted above, State Comptroller Hevesi has been working with Attorney General Spitzer and
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, who chairs the
Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, introduced the
Public Authority Reform Act, which called for the meaningful and lasting reform of public authorities. From Assembly Bill 5626:
Enacts the public authority reform act; establishes a classification system for public authorities; regulates the debt of public authorities; creates the temporary commission on public authority reform, the public authorities inspector general, and the public authorities independent budget office; relates to the defense and indemnification and professional activities of public authority members; relates to procurement lobbying activities; creates the public authorities supervision fund.
The bill
passed the State Assembly 119 to 23, and it is quite surprising that
Clifford Crouch of Guilford voted against the bill along with many of his Republican Assembly colleagues.
YEA/NAY: 119/023
Crouch NO
I can only guess that the problem with this bill was that it was a bit too much reform for Governor Pataki and many of the
Republican-controlled State Senate, which blocked its passage. But to compensate, the Governor issued
Executive Order No. 135, which created the
New York State Commission on Public Authority Reform (NYSCPAR), and the Legislature eventually passed the
Public Authorities Accountability Act, which was signed into law in January 2006. But according to the
Offices of the State Comptroller and Attorney General, this reform was simply a step in the right direction and not the real reform they had called for:
[it] was neither as comprehensive nor as effective in addressing oversight inadequacies as the omnibus bill passed by the Assembly. While it provided an important first step, it lacked sufficient reform in areas such as the oversight of authority contracting practices, controls on authority debt and the proliferation of authority subsidiary corporations. Rather than create an Independent Budget Office, the new Accountability Act established an Authority Budget Office controlled by the Governor and housed within the Division of the Budget. Similarly, it only codified in law an Executive-appointed inspector general.
State government needs to become more accountable and transparent to the voters, and activists turned politicians need only to listen today's great New York reformers: Alan Hevesi and Eliot Spitzer. What is wanted is real reform and those with the will to implement it. It seems, though, that the New York State GOP is the greatest obstacle to these ends.