The problem with our legislature
...or rather, one of many such problems, is this: representatives stay there far longer than they are useful or connected to the needs of their own districts. Consider the numbers.
The average length of employment in the United States, per a 1998 study, is 6.6 years. Of the 106 Democratic members of the New York State Assembly, 51 were elected in this decade. 31 came to their seats in the nineties; 16 in the eighties; and eight members have been in office since the seventies, including, of course, Speaker Silver himself.
The 106 Democratic members of the Assembly have, cumulatively, spent 1,335 years in Albany. That is, on average, twelve years and seven months, or roughly twice as long as the average U.S. employee remains in a given job.
That average is skewed by new arrivals in the present decade of the Oughts. Of the 106 members of the Assembly's Democratic majority, as noted, 51 were elected in this decade. For the larger remainder, the average term in office is slightly below two decades, at nineteen years and four months, more than three times the United States average duration of employment. In short, the majority of the majority has been in office, on average, since Ronald Reagan left office. One, Joe Lentol of Brooklyn, has served in Albany since 1972 - the year Richard Nixon was re-elected. Incidentally, before Lentol was elected, his father held that seat; and before him, his father's father.
If we want to fix the broken system in Albany - and it is broken - a good place to start might be to, like, make the actual terms in office of our legislators a little shorter.
There are several ways to come by such a desirable result. One is, obviously, the primary process. That process is as broken as the rest of the Albany system - New York legislators lose their jobs due to death or indictment more frequently than for any reason having to do with the electoral process.
The other is legislative remedies - term limits. God help the Albany legislature if the question of term limits is ever put to the voters of this state.
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Albany Dysfunction | New York State Assembly | New York
Term limits are not the answer
Submitted by Dan Jacoby on 15 February 2008 - 9:15pm.
Term limits are simply not the way to deal with a situation in which some long-serving elected officials actually do their jobs very well and should be returned to office. My own Assembly member, Catherine Nolan, who was first elected in 1984, is a classic example.
Instead, term limits for leadership positions are definitely in order. People should be limited to six years in a leadership position, and then required to stay out of those positions for at least six years, regardless of how long they "served."
The second thing that needs to be done is that we need to enact the "Clean Money, Clean Elections" system of full public funding of campaigns. That way, someone who demonstrates a decent level of community support can get all the money he or she needs to challenge an incumbent.
Third, we need independent districting. The gerrymandering that goes on in Albany has little to do with partisan politics and almost everything to do with incumbent job security.
Will this solve all the problems? No. But then, there is no perfect, permanent solution, there is no panacea, and in the words of [okay, I'm not sure who, although my favorite claim is Voltaire], "Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good."
Term limits are only part of the solution
There is no question that New York needs term limits. The entire culture of failure in Albany is based on incumbency protection. That includes gerrymandering, murky campaign finance laws, prohibitive ballot access rules, and a shadowy legislative process. All of this is done to keep Republicans in the Senate and Democrats in the Assembly. In this effort Sheldon Silver and Joe Bruno work hand in hand. Together, they ensure that New Yorkers have no input into their legislative process. Do you think that landlord contributions would carry so much weight if our legislators actually had to answer to the 2.5 million New Yorkers who live in rent-regulated housing?
So yes, we need term limits. 12 years with a staggered introduction. And non-political redistricting. And public financing of elections.
And Primary challenges. I am Sheldon Silver’s first primary challenge in over 20 years. It’s been longer for Bruno. It is small wonder that these legislative bosses are out of touch with our communities and our state. I’m not sure it’s possible to be in touch after 32 years in office.
Silver, Bruno and Co. will never limit their own terms or power. In 2008, at least, Downtowners will have to limit Sheldon Silver’s term themselves.
"The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy." - Al Smith
http://www.newellnyc.org