Good ideas, Gov. Cuomo. Now push them
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers his second State of the State speech at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany (Jan. 4, 2012l) Credit: AP
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo covered a lot of ground Wednesday in his State of the State message, but two important points were touched briefly or not at all. They deserve further attention -- and support.
First, the governor called for reform of the state's campaign finance laws, including the adoption of public financing for campaigns and lower limits on donations. Second, in his written message to the legislature, but not in his speech, the governor called for legislative districts to be redrawn by "an independent redistricting process" in place of the usual gerrymandering. The latter approach is nothing more than an incumbent-protection scheme.
The two issues are related. New York's deficient campaign finance system, coupled with a politicized redistricting process that makes lawmakers almost impossible to vote out of office, together undermine democracy and turn off voters. This may help explain New York's chronically low voter turnout. Why bother to cast a ballot in state legislative races if you can't have much effect on the outcome?
Broadly speaking, the governor is right on both issues. His challenge is to put some meat on these bare-bones ideas by turning them into proposals fleshed out with specifics. And he's got to put some political muscle behind them if they're to have a prayer of happening.
The governor's 2012 agenda is ambitious. The danger is that important ideas like these could fall by the wayside. They shouldn't.
