United in Disgust

With New York State’s legislative session recently concluded, local newspapers have been editorializing like mad about its failures and successes. Mainly, they have focused on the failures. UpstateBlog has a roundup of economic competitiveness complaints. What’s striking in this litany is how diverse are the groups that are unhappy with the way Albany operates. People with very different interests and ideologies can agree that current legislative practices—dominated by the majority party (and one person within that party), bereft of meaningful debate or deliberation, unprofessional, idiosyncratic, opaque—do a disservice to New York citizens. This helps explain why such a broad coalition signed up to support the Brennan Center’s recommendations on rules reform.

Let’s hope the breadth of public dissatisfaction, as well as its depth, encourages legislators to take heed—and make the most of the opportunity to reform their rules in January 2007.

Categories: General, Legislative Rules