Since taking office in January of 2005, I’ve partnered with a group of fellow reformers to try to change the way Albany operates. I’ve worked in a bi-partisan manner with colleagues in both the state Senate and Assembly.
This year, I’ve signed several reform pledges, including ones for NYPIRG and New York Uprising. They include issues I’ve been advocating for, such as campaign finance reform, non-partisan independent redistricting and ethics reform, to name a few.
It’s important that we level the playing field for candidates in New York State’s elections and restore the public’s faith in the integrity of the electoral system. By placing limits on special interest money donations and publicly financing campaigns, we can reduce the influence of special interests and ensure that candidates aren’t shut out by the opposition’s big-money contributions.
I’ve also co-sponsored sweeping public authorities’ reform to increase accountability and shed light on the more than 700 public authorities operating with little oversight and limited public scrutiny. Too often, public authorities have lost their focus – burning through money and straying more and more from their mission statements.
In addition to reforming the way they do business, I have co-sponsored legislation to downsize New York State government by abolishing 129 public authorities – 15 percent of the all the public authorities in the state. For too long, public authorities in New York have remained unaccountable and allowed to proliferate at the taxpayers’ expense.