The gridlock in New York's state capitol has gone on for way too long. It is becoming increasingly clear that working in Albany to bring about change in the way Albany operates is not enough. This election year, which may bring historic change to the State Senate, provides us with a perfect opportunity to use the election and campaign events to move reform issues back to the center of political discussions in New York.  We have to show our elected officials that the issues that we work on to bring effective and accountable state government to New York are supported by ordinary New Yorkers throughout the state. We can't do that simply by lobbying officials once they've arrived in Albany.  We have to move the discussion into districts throughout the state. The Pledge for Change campaign is designed to do precisely that.
 

Steve Allen, Common Cause New Mexico Executive Director, appeared on KOB's Eye on New Mexico this morning to support and debate the merits of the ethics package we are advocating for this session. Please watch the show online and feel free to comment or contact us at sallen@commoncause.org or 323 6399. We need your help to urge your legislators to pass these reforms.

There's also an interesting and thought provoking blog post over on Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics. Heath lays out the political landscape and examines why the legislature is so reluctant to take up reform despite the broad support from the New Mexico public and the clear need for change as the effects of recent scandals are still felt.

Fresh off the campaign trail, Governor Bill Richardson gave his State of the State address before the combined assembly of the New Mexico State House and Senate this week.  Newly unemployed campaign staff were in attendance as well to hear what their erstwhile candidate would say.

He urged the legislature to support bills on energy, healthcare, domestic violence and domestic partnership as well as the proposals of his Ethics Task Force (public campaign financing of statwide offices, an ethics commission and contribution limits).

He has budgeted funds for the public financing proposal and a coalition of citizen advocacy groups, including Common Cause New Mexico, are engaging citizens to urge their legislators to support these reforms.

Steve Allen, Executive Director of Common Cause NM said in an Albuquerque Journal Op-Ed on Monday:

Legislators will introduce a bill to provide public campaign financing for statewide offices, as well as for an ethics commission and contribution limits, in the coming days of the short 30 day session.  The House will likely pass the bills.  We trust they will hear the voice of the people.  It is vital that citizens across the state let their Senators know how important this is to them by emailing, calling and writing to them.

The Senate, a week after denying the vote to half million DC residents, this week denied Americans full access to vital information about their campaign contributions.

Once again, a single Senator stopped a simple bill that would require Senate candidates to file their campaign finance disclosure reports electronically and that those reports be posted on the internet.

The Senate's traditions and rituals are sometimes entertaining and cute, but this is just bad policy.

Who did it this time?  Senator John Ensign (R-NV), pictured at the right receiving, of all things, a technology award.  It's probably just from some Washington special interest group and basically meaningless, but the irony kills. 

Here's what the WaPo said about it:

Here's what my very serious friends at the Campaign Finance Institute said:

And, for what it's worth, here's what I said about it awhile ago.

Just when we thought it was never going to happen. FINALLY. The Colorado General Assembly passed Senate Bill 210, the compromise ethics implementation bill and it is now headed for the Governor's desk. This is no small feat, it has taken months to get this far. After a lot of feet dragging, the Colorado legislature is finally going to uphold the will of the voters.

Amendment 41, the Ethics in Government Initiative, was passed in November with over 62% of the vote. Higher than any other initiative on the ballot (and to be fair, there were 12 all together). Since its passage, it has become the talk of the town...literally. Opponents made wild claims that children of government employees would no longer receive college scholarships, and ranchers in southern Colorado couldn't receive disaster aid in the wake of giant snow storms. These claims caught on in the news, and the media storm that followed was something that none of us could have predicted. But, finally, Senate Bill 210 makes serious strides toward implementing the law the right way.