Watch for Unshackle Upstate to make news on Monday.

That’s when we’ll announce the results of our 2010 Legislative Scorecards. We’re calling these scorecards a voter’s guide to Judgment Day, Nov. 2, 2010.

That’s because from these scorecards, which we’re issuing for all 212 New York state legislators, you – the taxpaying voter – will be able to determine which of our lawmakers acted with your best interests in mind. For instance, who voted for reducing taxes, cutting spending, reducing state borrowing and mandates. And who just paid lip service to those important issues.

Let me give you a little preview, share our methodology. We’ve been keeping an eye on all the legislators – what bills they sponsored, what they supported and what they opposed. And we’ve assigned a value to their actions.

For instance, legislators could earn up to 60 points depending on how they voted in committee and on the floor on items supported or opposed by Unshackle. For instance, those who opposed a bill that would have required overtime pay for farm workers (a bill that was fortunately defeated), earned points.

Also in the calculation, up to another 25 points depending on how they voted on the 2011 state budget. In other words, those who voted against it got 25 points, those who voted for it got 0.

Legislators had a chance to improve their scores by up to 15 points by sponsoring bills that Unshackle Upstate supported. But they could also hurt their scores, losing up to 15 points by sponsoring bills that Unshackle opposes.

But these scorecards, revealing as they may be, are just one step in Unshackle’s endorsement process. They’ll be factored in with other measures, such as whether the candidate has a history of supporting or opposing Unshackle, as well as the candidate’s responses to our questionnaire and input from the chamber of commerce in each candidate’s area. All will be used to compile a list of endorsements we will be releasing in the coming weeks.

Why do we do all this? Because we at Unshackle Upstate feel it’s essential that you enter the voting booth on Nov. 2 armed with the facts and prepared to make a judgment. Did the candidates on the ballot before you stand up for you as a taxpayer, take the actions necessary to lower your taxes and create jobs? Or was the candidate more interested in securing re-election by advocating for the demands of a select few?

Read the scorecards. Study our endorsements. Then on Nov. 2, you be the judge.

Go to the voting booth and help us take back our state government. Send Albany a message that our elected officials work for us – the state’s largest special interest group – the taxpayers.

Each and every spring we seem to do a lot of communicating with our members about how bad Albany is. Just a few years back, it was the Brennan Center’s report that New York State had the most dysfunctional government in the nation. Year-in and year-out around that time, late budgets became the norm, annually thrusting entities relying upon state funding into uncertainty. Last year, we filled our members’ e-mailboxes with piece after piece about a state budget that – during a recession – raised spending by over $10 billion and taxes by over $8 billion.

This year, we maintain the status quo…

We have a budget that is nearly a month late – with no end in sight, a Senate Majority that insists on borrowing $2 billion to send out STAR rebate checks right before Election Day – the same rebate checks they ABOLISHED last budget, an Assembly Speaker whose own conference members call an obstructionist and a lame-duck Governor who says the whole situation is hopeless and his successor is doomed.

So what can we do to ensure Governor Paterson is not in fact the next Nostradamus? Sadly, many New Yorkers have already “voted with their feet” and left for greener pastures. We’re taking a different approach – standing up to the life-long politicians, the special interests, the downstate leaders who have provided little more than lip-service to Upstate. That’s why we’ve partnered with Unshackle Upstate and other business organizations in Upstate and Long Island to “Remember in November,” encouraging voters to use their votes on Judgment Day (Election Day, November 2) to initiate that change.

The first step on Election Day is to bring back an Upstate-friendly majority to the State Senate. This goal serves two purposes – balancing the power between the downstate-controlled Assembly and protecting our interests during the re-districting process scheduled for 2012. With 110 Assembly seats located below the Tappan Zee Bridge, it is inevitable that the Assembly will always be controlled by New York City. An Upstate-controlled Senate can help combat that control, protecting our Upstate interests in Albany. 

The second purpose serves a much more ominous concern- New York is projected to lose at least one and probably two Congressional Districts after the 2010 Census (because people ARE voting with their feet).  If there is not an Upstate-friendly majority in the Senate during the re-districting process, Upstate stands to have its voice in Washington, DC weakened, on top of its current lack of representation in Albany!  Don’t think for a second that downstate interests won’t hesitate to “protect their own” and chop up two Upstate Congressional Seats instead of a more appropriate 1-for-1 agreement.  To protect Upstate’s voice in Albany AND Washington, to be able to stand up to the Assembly Speaker’s obstructionist ways, to stop wasteful spending and harmful borrowing, and to make sure Governor Paterson’s prediction that our next Governor is “doomed to fail” is incorrect, it is imperative Upstate take back the Senate majority.

Given the inefficiency we’re seeing from Albany, perhaps a different approach would be more productive!

When you’re trying to affect change in a political institution, it’s all too easy to get frustrated by what at times seems an impossible challenge.

And then you get an e-mail like this, and your faith and energy are instantly renewed.

“Why don’t I give up on Upstate NY? I will tell you why.
When my parents are old, I want to be close enough to check on them and when they can no longer care for themselves I will care for them.
When my children are grown I don’t want them to have to run off to a faraway place just to find a job.
When I have grandchildren I want to see them every day. I want them to ride their bike to my house and I want to teach them things that I have learned from my lifetime of experience.
I would rather make cuts to our school system so that we can cut taxes for businesses so that my children can find a job or create a business of their own without moving away.”

Beautiful sentiment, but it’s the closing line that really got to me.

“If something does not change,’” the writer concludes, “We will be moving away so my children can have a hopeful future.”

That says it all: New York must change if our state, our families and our businesses are to have a hopeful future.

And it is time for our elected officials to finally realize that they need to be on our side, and step away from those who don’t worry about how their greed is ruining our state. It must be about what is good for all of us, the people of the state of New York, and not just the few who are entrenched and unwilling to change.

So how do we bring about that change? By banding together and speaking out on the issues that matter, the issues that will change New York’s future.

In fact, that’s what we did recently. And we were successful in stopping two legislative bills that would have severely hurt Upstate New York – the Farmworker Fair Labor Practice Act and the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Click here to read Unshackle’s statement .

This is a great achievement, as these were two bills that we adamantly opposed. If enacted, farms that have been in families for generations would have ceased to exist and vital economic development projects would never have been started.

Both bills were passionately argued by both sides of the issue. Fortunately, rational heads prevailed and the bills were defeated.

So what have we learned? We learned that the voice of the Unshackle Upstate Army is being heard and having an impact on legislative activity in Albany.

We can and should celebrate. But we cannot rest. There will be more issues to tackle and bills to oppose. We must remain vigilant.

Together, we will push our elected officials to do what is right for the taxpayers and job creators of this state. Together, we will reform New York, make it the best place to live, work and raise a family, make it a place with a hopeful future, a place we are proud to call home.

Please do your part. Encourage everyone you know to join our effort and strengthen our voice. Our future is at stake.

Another week begins, and still no state budget.

Granted, we’re not exactly complaining, since we at Unshackle Upstate clearly prefer a late budget to a bad one. Problem is, we remain deeply concerned that we’ll end up with both.

Why? Because that’s the unfortunate history of New York state government, where a tax-and-spend style of conducting business has left us with an unsustainable balance sheet.

But the lateness of the budget – it was legally due April 1 – does present an opportunity to continue to push the Unshackle Upstate message with our elected representatives in Albany.

And that message is: You, state legislator, should not approve a budget with increased or new taxes, new fees or additional borrowing. Because if you do, we at Unshackle Upstate stand ready to vote you out of office on Judgment Day, Nov. 2, 2010.

Now we need you, our partners and supporters, to help us spread the message. Toward that, we’ve created posters and fliers that you can print out to display and share with others – neighbors, friends, organization members, co-workers, employees.

Click here to download these materials.

Then forward this message to others in your network so that our Unshackle Army and our taxpayers’ voice of reason will be heard and noticed.

As always, thank you for your support. Together, we can make a difference in New York state.

Yesterday, we posted a note on Facebook alerting people to the fact that it appeared our government was for sale. Members of the Majority party in the Senate were “selling” access to the leadership to various labor, business, and environmental groups.

While this has been done before it had never been more blatant. And as a group that represents taxpayers in New York, we were offended by the letter and the implications.

Yet we also knew it would happen and we’d have to work that much harder to make sure our message of spending cuts and reducing the tax burden – yes, a fiscally conservative view – was heard.

So we asked for your help. We asked you to help us raise $50,000 in 50 days.

Some of you stepped right up and sent in your support. For instance, Frank wrote, “…nothing is going to be done without money. That is just a fact of life. Pony up. Put your money where your mouth is. MEDIA alone costs money. If these guys reduce your tax burden by $200 next year and you chipped in $100 you have $100 profit. A bunch of windbags are not going to make any difference here. Proof? Albany is full of windbags… where did that get you? Yada Yada Yada alone ain’t gonna do it.”

Others were honest and said they didn’t have the money, but would be able to help in other ways. Mark said, “Hey guys, I know how bad things are here too. I’m retired and just barely make it myself. I became a fan of Unshackle Upstate, and posted it to get the word out about them. From some of the comments, I feel like I’M the one asking you to go without food. We don’t have to short ourselves to help. We can pass the word, or check with them about volunteering if we have some free time when we’re not trying to make more money. The thing we ALL agree on is that we need to do some serious changing of our representatives.”

Finally, at least one person wanted to know how we were going to use the money. The answer: We will use it in many ways. Your contributions will go toward our on-going multimedia work to educate taxpayers about their government and why it needs to be changed. It will be spent on growing our Unshackle Army on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and others. And it will help us create documents such as our Scorecard on each elected official, a legislative profile on our upstate representatives, and posters on the website that people can download and put up in their break rooms, on community boards and other public locations.

Here is the reality. If you have the means to contribute financially, please do by clicking here.  We need each and every dollar we can raise to beat back the message of those who want more for themselves and say to hell with the rest of us.

We will continue to find ways to do more with less. Yet the reality is that we need to fight this battle in the court of public opinion and that means mainstream media, which we all know isn’t free. And if we don’t or can’t invest in a good, strong battle, you can bet we are going to get more of the same fromr our state government – unsustainable spending and a tax burden that strangles us.

If you have the means to contribute financially, please do so by clicking here. Some can give more, but every $5, $10 or $20 contribution means a great deal.

But if you can’t give now, that’s OK. You can help us by spreading the message of Unshackle Upstate: We need our elected officials to start representing us, the taxpayers and private sector job creators.

Tell your friends and family to get off the couch and get in the game. Give them the links to our website (www.unshackleupstate.com), tell them to look for us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/unshackleupstate). It is going to take all of us to get this state turned around. But collectively, we can’t be denied.

I’ll close with one of my favorite quotes. It is the essence of Unshackle Upstate:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead

The mood in the state Capitol seems refreshingly a bit different, yet disturbingly all too the same.

I noticed the difference during a trip last week to talk with Legislative leadership and representatives of the governor’s office about our local economic development agenda.

On the positive side, I noticed how everyone we talked with seemed to be actually listening, not just being polite. Their attention seemed to be driven by a new respect for Unshackle Upstate, perhaps even a bit of what might be described as “fear” about the impact of our Judgment Day campaign and Scorecard on voter sentiment in the November elections.

That’s all good, because it’s important to remind our elected officials that they work for us, the taxpayers, and that they need to listen to all of us, not just select groups. As voters, we get to choose who we sent to Albany to represent us. The point of Judgment Day is that those legislators who don’t understand the problems caused by New York’s high taxes and stifling business regulations, and aren’t willing to support and work for change, simply don’t deserve – and shouldn’t receive – our votes.

Also good, I heard realistic dialog about the state’s financial problems. In the past, folks at the Capitol paid lip service to the ever-growing budget gap, typically downplaying it and the consequences of state government’s tax-and-spend philosophy. This time, the message seems to have hit home. From Legislative leadership to the executive branch and all points in between, everyone said closing the 2010 budget gap will be difficult and painful.

Unfortunately, the talk stopped there. And that’s what I find disturbing. Sure, they’re kicking around cuts and the usual new taxes and one-shot revenue enhancers to get through this budget cycle.

But no one we spoke with seemed to have the interest or the willingness or feel the obligation to fight for systemic changes that would result in long-term savings for the state, such as reexamining public employee contracts, furloughing state workers (something the private sector has been doing for two years to trim costs), overhauling the Medicaid system, or holding overall state spending absolutely flat.

That simply has to change – immediately. Because the taxpayers of New York simply can’t take it anymore. They, we, deserve better.

And that is what Judgment Day is all about.

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!