|
Archive of TV Stories on S4R &
Guestbook
Our TV Ads Inside Albany Story #1 "Students For Reform"
Inside Albany Story #2
Inside Albany Story #3
PBS's Inside Albany's Story and Video:
Democrats Manhattan Monroe County Montgomery County Oneida County Onondaga County Ontario County Orange County Queens County Rockland County Schenectady County Suffolk County Sullivan County Ulster County Westchester County Republicans Bronx County Broome County Cayuga County Nassau County Onondaga County Putnam County Queens County Rockland County Wayne County Westchester County This message is brought to you by our student interns from high schools and colleges including NYU, Dartmouth, Harvard, Rutgers, MIT, Cornell, RPI, the University of Michigan and Yale, and attorneys Charles Juntikka, Dan Wolf and Craig Heller. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
|
Students Teach Good Government
Editorial- New York Daily News
LEGISLATORS IN ALBANY sometimes scoff that real reforms never become law because the public is just not interested. But now, along comes a nonpartisan group of high school and college students to prove them wrong. These young people are so interested that they've put photos of recalcitrant lawmakers on a special Web site and are running television commercials urging voters to throw the bums out.
If voters join in, this could be the beginning of a real good- government revolution.
Students4Reform, a group of interns working for Manhattan lawyer Charles Juntikka, has compiled a list of 27 state Senate and Assembly members, Democrats and Republicans, who have stalled such changes as campaign finance reform, bans on gifts from lobbyists, easier ballot access and an open budget process.
For years, these issues have been championed, so far in vain, by Common Cause, the League of Women Voters and the New York Public Interest Research Group. But the young crusaders - from high schools like Manhattan's prestigious Stuyvesant and such colleges as NYU, Yale and Dartmouth - have upped the ante.
Since September, they've mailed 80,000 postcards to targeted voters, urging them not to reelect their local senator or Assembly member. And, in addition to a Web site - www.students4reform.com - the group has set up a toll-free number so voters can call Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and Gov. Pataki. Albany's leaders were so upset that they persuaded Bell Atlantic and AT&T to ask the group to stop calling. But the students persisted.
Among the causes backed by Students4Reform is a bill to create joint conference committees of members from both legislative houses to ease the passage of laws. Such committees are used successfully in Congress and 45 state legislatures. In New York, it would give more power to rank-and-file legislators, diminishing Bruno and Silver's power to block votes unilaterally.
In the 150-member Assembly, the bill has 104 sponsors from both parties - more than enough to ensure passage. Yet Silver will not allow the bill to go to the floor for a vote. That's the kind of tyrannical power-wielding that sparked the recent rebellion against Silver's leadership.
As Juntikka put it, it's a case of "one party boss defying the will of the majority." And that's just what Students4Reform is determined to stop.
With all 211 state legislators up for reelection this year, it's encouraging to see that young New Yorkers are questioning pols' records. The rest of the state's electorate should do the same.
|
|
Archive of Print Stories on S4R
NY Times Story
Students Put Pressure on Legislators by Winnie Hu
Teen People
NY Daily News
NY Daily News
Albany Times Union
NY Newsday
The Troy Record
GANNET NEWS SERVICE
Albany Times Union
The Legislative Gazette
NY Times Story
The Daily Gazette of Schenectady
Rochester Chronicle
Albany Times Union
Other Articles On Corruption
NY Observer
Troy Record
Hon. Sheldon Silver
Sen. Joe Bruno
Sen. Bruno’s Flawed Gift Ban Bill Loopholes |
