It was yet again another interesting week in NY politics. We started with a Governor announcing he will not seek re-election and ended with two congressional members in hot water with one actually announcing he will resign Monday at 5:00 PM. And we still have no idea what is going to happen with the Governor. Is he next? One could say it is yet another black eye for New York. I would disagree with that thought. I think what this shows is that there is hope this year for all of us that have been banging the drum that politics as usual in New York must stop. It is the fear of the public backlash that is helping to drive the investigations and resignations.
Sometimes we tend to forget what it is that makes New York so unique. You see, we tend to be our own worst enemy when it comes to touting the good things about New York. That is why we posted a new question to our Facebook page asking people what they like about New York. What did we hear? The good schools, great higher education, an A+ workforce, short commutes, natural resources and it’s great place to raise a family. We couldn’t agree more. Think about it, how many other states can claim the following:
- Access to two great lakes
- The Finger Lakes with world class wineries
- Multiple mountain ranges
- Two rivers with access to an ocean
- Ability to host the Winter Olympics
- Home of global icons such as Kodak, Bausch & Lomb, Xerox, GE, IBM, Moog, GM and many more
- One of the best metropolitan centers in the world…New York City
So then why are we so down on ourselves? True, we’ve lost lots of people, thousands of private sector jobs, and suffer under one of the worst tax burdens in the country. But all of those things can be changed. We can create the jobs, return our young and lower the tax structure. We work hard everyday to make that happen. And tens of thousands of you have joined us in the fight to take back our state.
But what we can’t change are the things listed above that have either drawn us to New York or keep us here. Those treasures are worth fighting for and require all of us to stand up and tell our government one very clear message…THIS IS OUR STATE AND WE ARE TAKING IT BACK!!!
Now we need the 212 members of the Legislature to join us in the fight to return New York to its’ rightful place…at the top of the economy and global leader in developing private sector jobs. If not, then they don’t deserve our vote and shouldn’t be at the Capitol representing us.
Join the fight today at www.unshackleupstate.com/army.
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Last week, the Unshackle Upstate coalition released our “Judgment Day” initiative statewide, outlining our government advocacy and political action for the remainder of the 2010 election season. It’s no secret to anyone in New York State – and particularly Upstate – that 2010 is a critical year for our future. Escalating budget deficits, post-census redistricting and questionable (if not pervasive) economic development policy have made Election Day, November 2, absolutely pivotal – with implications projected for decades to come.
For far too long, elected representatives have been returned to office again and again under an “I hate federal/state/local government, but I love my representative.” It’s not difficult to understand why Albany continues to turn a deaf ear at Unshackle Upstate’s call to end member item – or “pork” – spending. An elected representative can cover up an awful lot of bad policy votes with “big check” presentations to local community organizations.
But for every community organization that is helped by pork funding, the electeds have shown they are proficient at taking money directly out of OUR pockets. Last year’s tax increases (disguised in a number of ways – “fees,” “assessments,” etc.) cost every household in New York State $1,300. The same people who we’re praising on the front page of the local paper for their “pass-through” gifts to the community are paying for it with our cash. Wouldn’t we all prefer to spend our hard-earned money the way we, ourselves, see fit?
That’s why vigilance is a critical element of making change politically – and that’s where the Unshackle Upstate Judgment Day “report cards” come into play. We like to think of it as a reckoning: (1) this is how the Upstate business community needs our elected officials to behave; (2) here’s HOW they’ve behaved; and then, most importantly, (3) here’s what we should do about it. Translating the actions of our elected officials into Election Day (November 2) political action is what this effort is all about. Plainly and simply, that means getting to the polls to vote against those “representatives” that aren’t adequately representing.
You can expect to see a lot of good “constituent service” from Albany electeds this year – including those political capital-earning pork checks. When the political consultants get hold of the PR effort, it’s going to be hard to ignore. Please don’t be fooled. Last year was a devastating year for business and personal taxpayers in Upstate New York, and it’s important that we remember the damage that was done. We cannot allow ourselves to be “bought” by a check to the local little league, or some help getting a pot hole filled at the end of our street – they’re just not worth the bad decisions that are being made in Albany. I urge voters in Upstate to utilize Unshackle Upstate’s Judgment Day report cards – not just for information, but as a frequently-visited guide for Election Day decision-making.
What are we afraid of… in a political sense? What is it about telling elected officials the truth about the problems we face makes people so…afraid? I mean really, what is the worst thing that can happen? Last I checked, they are human. Just like you and me.
I ask that because several times last week people asked me if I was ever afraid to talk about the real issues facing New York.
My response is simple: NO! Why should I be?
When you have the facts and the data on your side, you need not be afraid. And you should never be afraid to advocate for yourself. If you don’t do it, who will?
Organizations such as Unshackle Upstate can advocate on your behalf, but advocacy is most effective when it comes directly from you – someone who can vote an elected person in or out of office. That is why Unshackle Upstate is pushing so hard for people to get involved. We need your voice, everyone’s voice, together and amplified so that all 212 members of the legislature can hear our demand for reform.
Arnold Glasgow once wrote, “One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.”
Houston…we have a problem! There is a leadership void in the halls of the Legislative Office Building. We can change that by making sure that those that believe in us return to office next January, and that we provide them more support by electing new people that believe New York state has a problem and are willing to fix it the right way – with long-term reform rather than simple little fiscal Band-Aids on our spending wounds.
That’s what this whole thing is about. We, the members of Unshackle Upstate , become leaders, using facts and data to drive for change. We make the choice to demand more of our elected officials. And we do NOT fear what they may say or do. Fear has gotten us to an unsustainable budget with a growing tax burden that cripples our homes and businesses. Fear has made us lose our voice.
Here is my simple challenge to you: Be a a leader and use your voice to demand change. Margaret Mead was absolutely correct when she wrote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
Let’s work together to grow a legion of Unshackle Army members that don’t necessarily want to change the world… just our state and those who choose to ignore us.
The normal plan for me is to post a blog every Monday and Friday. And I was really excited to share with you our new initiatives this week: The Scorecard: A Judgment Day Primer for Voters and our 2010 campaign called “11.2.2010…Judgment Day for State Legislator\s.” These two important programs will allow us to tell you exactly what takes place at the Capitol and who the good and bad actors are within each party. And Judgment Day is really what we are talking about…poor decisions by elected officials means they don’t get to go back and represent us.
But, given the events of yesterday and the question we posed to our Facebook fans, I wanted to wait. I wanted to see the ideas you have to fix our state government. The good news for us, we all tend to agree with each other.
For instance, you write about getting rid of the rich benefits for state employees. We are not opposed to them getting benefits, they should. But right now those benefits are more than 68% higher than in the private sector. That is why we have proposed changing two state laws: Taylor and the Triborough Amendment, to eliminate the advantage public employees have over our municipal government. We need to free up our town and city leaders, and our school boards, and allow them to negotiate affordable wages and benefits.
You also think that elected officials should be treated just like you and me. Just because you hold office doesn’t mean that you are entitled to a better retirement option. We agree. That is why we are going to help Assemblyman Fitzpatrick from Long Island advance his bill to get all elected officials and non-civil service jobs out of the current defined benefit plan (guaranteed by our taxes) and into a 401K plan… just like the one you and I get from our employers. If they are truly committed to being like us, then they should easily sign onto this bill and take the same risks we do in the market. Not only will it save the state millions, it will help eliminate career politicians that move from one job to another just to get their 20 years in and better pension.
But what I read that I really liked more than any of the postings on our Facebook page came from Frank Maston. Frank pointed out that unless we vote, things won’t change. I couldn’t agree with Frank more…unless each and every one of us gets out there and votes for the right people, it won’t matter how much we talk about the problems and offer solutions. So it is up to each and every one of us to not only vote ourselves, but encourage everyone we know to do the same thing. The money we will raise is needed and helps us swing a pretty big stick.
But on November 2… Judgment Day for them and for us… it is the vote carries the power. Do we have the courage to do what is right and take back our state? I believe we do!
We’ve heard the calls for change over the last several years. I often wonder what people think of when the topic comes up. Particularly, in New York State which has been wrought with scandal as well as one crisis after the next with regard to fiscal matters.
Given the calls for “change”, let us also remember NY State has very significant challenges: minimal turnover in representation leading to long careers for our representatives, negative views of the legislature, low popularity and support for Governor Paterson, private sector exit from the State, and a 2010 $8.2 billion State budget deficit.
When we hear about “change”, is it change in how government allocates resources? Is it the size of government that should change? or, is it, more fundamental in terms of how government should view itself with regard to the citizens it represents? Is there a general consensus on what change would look like?
My own sense is that there needs to be fundamental change in NYS spending. How it allocates resources and the level of spending citizens are willing to commit to. Given there has been approximately a 20% reduction in wealth for the average household in the US over the last several years given the financial crisis, why not suggest a 20% reduction in overall spending from the NY state budget?
Moreover, with commitments to shrinking State spending, we create an environment more supportive for business and more tax friendly for NYS residents. Also, how about change in how we view and interact with our representation in this state? Our representatives have little worry with regard to change due to low turnover in the State Legislature (less than 15%), no term limits and district lines drawn to favor long tenures in the State Capital. More active grass roots campaigns (such as the Unshackle Army) and highlighting representation through social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) can give citizens more exposure to their representation to engage more dialog and debate on the issues. Certainly, change that could be felt by our State representatives.
Regardless of your own assumptions on “Change” in NYS, a more active and passionate electorate that holds our representatives accountable and ensures the wishes of the citizens of the state will certainly be a catalyst for change that we can, hopefully, believe in for NYS. The time is right and here’s your chance in 2010 to get involved to get the right level of change you believe is necessary for NYS!
Larry is an Unshackle Army member and active Facebook fan, who will be guest blogging for Unshackle Upstate. If you are interested in becoming a guest blogger, visit http://unshackleupstate.com/army and fill out the form.
As the famous Willie Nelson song indicates, we are “on the road again.” This week has us in Albany and Westchester County tomorrow, back in Rochester Wednesday, then in Syracuse on Thursday. What is the point of the travel? Spreading the message of our coalition and adding more names and more fundraising. The funny thing is that regardless of where we go, the response is the same. “Thank you for doing this work and providing us with the information we need.” But we are always quick to respond that we’ll get you what you need, but you need to get to the booth and make the right choices. You see, regardless of what we do, if people don’t actually get out and vote, there won’t be much that can be done to change NY. So work with us and beat back the voter apathy.
Ok, so this may sound strange, but over the weekend I was looking at the proposed budget and something struck me as “off” (other than the whole budget, right)? I was looking at the proposed mergers and something wasn’t sitting right. It finally dawned on me late last night.
If you recall, just last year the Governor and Legislature passed Tier 5, the new employee retirement system. It will save us billions, but not nearly as much as it could have because concessions were made. One of those was that there would be no lay-offs. In exchange for that provision, CSEA and PEF, the state’s largest public employee unions, would not fight the bill. That’s what got me going on the consolidations. How can you merge agencies, thus creating a savings, without actually eliminating positions? Isn’t that why you do mergers…to save money by reducing redundancy?
So we checked. Guess what? The only reductions appear to be from retirements and not filling current vacancies. Don’t get me wrong, we support mergers and consolidations. The more the merrier in many instances. We need to create efficiency through technological improvements and the use of private sector practices like Lean and Six Sigma.
But the truth is we’ll never get the true cost savings we need if our leaders continue to make concessions with the labor community. In fact, we’ll leave you with this: when was the last time you read a newspaper headline declaring that the Governor or Legislature had reached an agreement with the taxpayers or business community? The answer? Never!
Clearly we have our work cut out for us. And we won’t back down. We can’t. So this is an important week for Unshackle Upstate and for you. We’ll be announcing two big projects later this week. These projects will allow us to get you more information and turn up the heat on elected officials that aren’t taking us seriously. We look forward to being able to share those plans with you on Friday.
This week, I’ve been pretty busy once again traveling around NYS to get our message out. But I didn’t forget about my blog post. Actually, I wanted to write this one specifically for our active Facebook fans, who have been writing some great, insightful comments not just this week, but consistently over the past few months as we’ve been trying to ramp up the campaign.
Unshackle Upstate doesn’t work on behalf of ourselves as an organization, or our own thoughts and ideals, but rather is about listening to and echoing the thoughts and concerns of YOU, the taxpayer. So I wanted to personally respond to some of the comments I’ve been seeing from all of you on the Unshackle Upstate Facebook page. I’ve noticed that a lot of people are echoing others in their concerns, so I’ve picked out a few comments to respond to, based on topics that come up over and over again on our page, and some specific things that have happened this week. I’m responding to a few key issues today, and I’ll do this again from time to time.
“NYS Government has to reduce the workforce. There are way too many people on the payroll. In these troubled times we all have to do more with less.” – Gary M Baker; Facebook
Clearly, the leadership of this state is not listening. We continue to talk about ways to lower state spending and the burden it places on all of us. Yet this week we hear that the Governor is proposing that day care providers be forced to join the United Federation of Teachers. No disrespect to the workers, but come on. The only thing this will do is run up the cost of daycare for private pay and drive up the reimbursement rate within the social service programs. So on one hand we won’t be able to afford the increase and on the other our taxes will go up to cover Medicaid rates. That’s not leadership, that’s pandering. And any elected official that supports that component of the Governor’s proposed budget doesn’t deserve our support.
“Oh Yeah… Let’s start the new fiscal year with a fresh round of additional debt for our grandchildren. Absolutely no mention of seriously attacking the poor management practices that led to the massive shortfall.”- David Hammond; Facebook
If it isn’t taxes and health insurance that drives us over the edge, it is energy. So now we have a great chance to actually lower our rates for natural gas…oh, and create hundreds of jobs…yet once again that won’t happen. Why? Because the state can’t agree on regulations related to hydro fracture drilling (a proven technique used in PA). So the gas sits in the ground while we contemplate what to do. But even if we got that figured out, in the budget there is a new Severance Tax. That is a tax applied to “severing gas from the ground” making it more costly to extract the gas. So let’s be clear…we can’t agree on how to get the gas out of the ground and yet we are going to tax an industry before it even develops. Great planning there.
“How about eliminating state pensions for all elected officials…it might encourage more citizen legislators and turnover in state office holders. Financial term limits.” – Bruce Anderson; Facebook
How can we reduce pension issues and at the same time get our elected to work harder for us? Well, there might be a way to do that. Assemblyman Mike Fitzpatrick has introduced a bill to change an elected officials pension from being a defined benefit, or DB plan (one that is backed by you, the taxpayer) to a defined contribution plan, or DC (like the 401K the private sector uses). Not a bad idea. That way we at least eliminate the potential for a Conflict of Interest when dealing with the pension system and our ability to get it lowered. In fact, we pushed for a DC plan like they have at SUNY/CUNY to be in the recently passed Tier 5. Perhaps Unshackle Upstate will have to push this bill a bit harder.
For years chambers of commerce have been able to offer health insurance coverage to our members at a much more affordable rate than they could buy independently. This has always been an important issue with our small business membership – the desire to provide good quality health insurance for their employees.
Yet what I hear virtually everyday it seems, is alarming. Our small businesses are at the breaking point and simply cannot absorb any more costs to their operations. This is especially alarming when it comes from members who typically fly under the radar when it comes to our legislative advocacy efforts.
Small business is on life support in New York and the prognosis from Albany is not looking very good. After imposing a whopping $700 million in new taxes and fees last year, there are an additional $890 million in “dedicated taxes and assessments to finance health care investments.” In reality, this is nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. At the end of the day, a tax is still a tax, despite how well-intentioned it may be.
As far as I can see, these investments do nothing to alleviate the following conditions: a long-standing addiction to overspending and an acute reluctance to make the cuts necessary to sustain New York’s fiscal health.
We cannot be led to believe that there is some distinction of what makes for a good tax. If it increases costs to business or unnecessarily levies a higher burden on taxpayers, it is simply unacceptable.
When you think about it, the remedies for New York’s fiscal ills are quite easy to find. Ask any of the thousands of members of the Unshackle Army and they will tell you clearly: Albany, heal thyself.
How many of you remember the book from a decade back called Where’s Waldo? That is what this week felt like…where’s Unshackle Upstate today?
Our week started in Albany at a rally with over 100 grumpy Upstate residents. Tuesday we lobbied our elected officials and told them very clearly: we cannot accept a budget that adds spending or new taxes or fees. While some agreed with us, others made excuses about why the budget was actually okay, and that many of the laws we highlight shouldn’t be changed. Really? We couldn’t disagree more.
Sidebar: As a result, Unshackle Upstate has created a report card that will score all 212 members of the legislature. And many of the items we covered will be on that report card. As an upstate resident, you will be able to use that report card to see how your legislators voted and determine if they should be re-elected.
Wednesday was spent building the Unshackle Army in Rochester and Buffalo. We added another hundred or so fans to the Army and added money to our PAC.
Thursday we went down to the Mid-Hudson and recruited firms in Orange and Ulster County to join us. They get the point…state spending and high taxes are hurting their region and Unshackle has the right plan to take back the state…OUR state. And later this month we will be down in Westchester County sharing the same message and call to action with them. This truly is a statewide initiative.
Today was a personal appeal to some influential community leaders to support our plan and help us raise the money we need to win some seats this fall. There was overwhelming support with many of them committing not their help with growing the coalition, but giving money as well. We even walked away with a few checks for the PAC and a commitment for more.
So after more than 1,000 miles this week, what did we get? We sent a clear message to the elected officials, added more names to the Army, and started to fill the PAC account. Not bad for 5 days. But there is more to come. Stay tuned…
My trip to Albany this week was in some ways like all the others. But in a couple important ways, it felt very different.
I was leading a group of business people from across Upstate, meeting with leaders of the state Legislature and representatives of Gov. Paterson. We were there to discuss Unshackle Upstate’s policy agenda, and our message was focused, loud and clear: the Legislature must not raise taxes or add new ones. And they must find a way to cut state spending – now.
Here’s where things started feeling unfortunately familiar. Legislative leadership’s initial response was to point out that they didn’t cause the state’s fiscal problems, they inherited them.
Our response: We’re not assigning blame or pointing fingers as to how we got here. But we’re here now, and you’re in power now, so it IS up to you find a way to fix this. And we, the taxpayers of New York state, expect you to do your job and right the state’s finances beginning with this budget.
To which they had another unfortunately familiar response: “We’re making progress, things are moving in the right direction.” Not good enough, we replied. New York’s budgetary problems are real; the state’s financial circumstances are dire. We cannot afford to wait while things move in the right direction; we need to take action now.
We reminded them that their constituents – business owners, taxpayers, heads of households – faced their own financial crisis in the last year, as a result of the recession. And people responded in the only sensible way, by tightening their belts and bringing expenses down to match revenues.
Yet our legislative leadership suggests that we, as taxpayers, should somehow be satisfied with the state budget proposal because it raises spending only a little, less than 1 percent. Truth is, even that small amount is too much because the budget also calls for a whole bunch of new taxes, fees and assessments (which will come out of taxpayers’ pockets) to cover that spending.
No, we said. A less-than-1-percent increase is not acceptable. The only thing that will be acceptable is less spending.
And that’s where I noticed a difference. Up until now, their responses had been pretty typical. But Unshackle’s message is strong, powered by taxpayer anger over the state’s tax-and-spend ways. And for the first time I felt like the legislative leaders sensed that anger. And it’s got them worried that angry taxpayers might decide to take their frustrations out on incumbent legislators up for re-election in the fall.
That’s exactly the message we at Unshackle Upstate are working to convey. So we’re working to keep the heat on so that our legislators and their leadership are fully aware that if they want or vote, they have to earn it. And the only way to do that is to do right by taxpayers, and cut state spending.
