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Voter Declaration of
Independence
Let’s Change Our State’s
Dysfunctional Government
Prior to the 2004 election, the Republican Senate and Democratic
Assembly enthusiastically embraced reform. Yet in the last two years
they have done little more than require representatives to be present
for votes and enact two on-time budgets. The Republican Senate and
Democratic Assembly have not elected new leadership nor effectively
distributed power from the Majority Leader and the Speaker to our
elected representatives. They have not enacted voter initiative or term
limits, nor redrawn the voting districts in a non-partisan manner. They
have not limited their borrowing, taxing, and spending, nor made
Medicaid sustainable. They have not dealt with education funding
inequities nor underperforming schools.
During the last 50 years, New York State’s share of U.S. income has
declined 37%, while Minnesota’s remained constant, and New Hampshire’s
increased 67%.1 New York State now ranks 45th among the 50
states in population and income growth, and percent of the adult
population employed. 2 Although NYS spends the most per pupil
for education, our state has the 44th lowest graduation rate. 3
Four out of ten students do not graduate from high school in New York
State. 4
Our state has the highest per-capita tax burden of the 50 states, a
burden that is 53% over the national average. 5 Per-capita
state and local government debt is 76% above the national average.
6 Per-capita state and local government spending is 46% over the
national average. 7 State spending increased 13% this year,
far faster than revenue growth, and four times the inflation rate.
8 From 2000-2004, New York lost over one million residents to
other states, 300,000 more than any other state9.
In the 1950’s, New York State was one of the most prosperous places on
the planet and the envy of most every state and country in the world.
This is clearly no longer the case. Many attribute our state’s poor
performance to its climate and the economic rise of the South, Mexico,
and China. Yet, Minnesota, farther north and with a harsher climate,
thrives.
In New York State, the Senate and Assembly leaders use chair
appointments, lulus, member budgets and items, and party resources to
control members and the legislation. They draw districts to give a
majority of their party members a significant election advantage. They
craft legislation to maximize campaign contributions and party
resources. They fund community projects with taxpayer dollars so their
party’s legislators appear as heroes in local newspapers. Incumbent
advantages enable representatives to run without major party opposition
in one-third of the races, and have 20 to 100 times more to spend than
their opponents in another third of the races.
Partisan voting
districts, large campaign war chests, and favorable public relations
destroy the link between legislator performance and their re-election.
They trick voters into electing incumbents who govern poorly. New York
State steadily declines and incumbents enjoy a 99% re-election rate.
10
The genius of democracy is that all interests are represented and no
interest is over-represented. A well-functioning democracy generates
superior solutions. When feedback from all of the citizenry enters the
mix, creative synergistic solutions that balance the needs of the
individual, community, business, and environment emerge. Everyone wins.
In contrast, when trial lawyers, public sector unions, and business
groups buy legislation via campaign contributions, the legislation
transfers resources from one group to another group. The legislation is
neither creative nor synergistic, often distorts free market signals,
and generally harms our economy.
We all like to believe
our representatives are not the problem, and that the problem lies with
representatives in other districts. However, our representatives, and
all majority party representatives, are the problem. Their continued
support of Majority Leader Bruno and Speaker Silver, and their poor
governance, costs each of our households thousands of dollars a year.
As inconvenient as it
may be to vote, we must vote. As uncomfortable as it may be to cross
party lines, we must consistently vote for Senate Democrats and Assembly
Republicans until this egregious corruption of our democracy is
corrected. By voting for Senate Democrats and Assembly Republicans, we
will unseat a few majority party incumbents and cause the remaining to
govern more responsibly. Additionally, we may be able to visit our
grandchildren in the neighborhood down the street, rather than the
neighborhood one thousand miles away!
Please download this article and to email a copy of this declaration to
all of your friends. Mark Bitz is President of Plainville Farms. He is
author of Creating a Prosperous New York State: Making Elected Officials
Accountable for New York State’s Performance Relative to Other States,
which is available from Duplionline.com and Amazon.com.
SOURCES
1U.S.
Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, www.bea.doc.gov/bea/regional/bearfacts/statebf.cfm,
www.bea.doc/cea/dn/nipaweb/TableView.asp#Mid;
U.S. Bureau of the Census, www.census.gov/statab/hist/HS-35.pdf.
2U.S.
Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis,
www.bea.doc.gov/bea/regional/bearfacts/statebf.cfm;
A Statistical View of the United States: State Rankings 2005, Morgan
Quitno, pp. 97, 169, 427.
3A
Statistical view of the United States: State Rankings 2005, Morgan
Quitno, pp.128, 140.
4Ibid.
p.128.
5
U.S. Bureau of the Census, www.census.gov/govs/www/estimate04.html.
6
A Statistical view of the United States: State Rankings 2006, Morgan
Quitno, p. 304.
7
A Statistical view of the United States: State Rankings 2006, Morgan
Quitno, p. 300.
8”Hevesi:
Pataki's Final Budget Has 12.9 Percent Hike in Spending,” Marc Hubert,
Associated Press, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/
9
U.S. Bureau of the Census, www.census.gov/popest/states/tables/NST-EST2005-04.xls.
10“Reform
New York: 10 Steps on the Path to Change Albany,” Blair Horner, New York
Public Interest Research Group, October, 2004, pp. 2-7; “Issue:
Redistricting Reform,” New York
Public Interest Research Group, April, 2005. |
