Governor Paterson released this statement earlier today:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 25, 2009
STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR DAVID A. PATERSON
"I want to commend former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the ideas he raised with respect to a State constitutional convention. Albany is in need of reform, and leaders should be working in a bipartisan way to achieve real progress for the people of New York.
"Some of the reforms Mayor Giuliani has raised are issues I also believe should be addressed. We need to reform the budget process by enacting a State spending cap so that government will live within its means just like regular New Yorkers. We need campaign finance reform and a government ethics commission that will restore the faith of the public in government. We need to take politics out of the debate over judicial salaries and I have submitted a program bill to do just that.
"One caution I would raise in moving towards a constitutional convention is based on experience from 1997 - the last time New Yorkers voted on a constitutionally-mandated ballot proposition on the subject. The same special interests that have come to dominate establishment Albany will once again attempt to influence the movement to a constitutional convention - just as they did in 1997. They will spend millions of dollars to affect the process and they will seek to elect delegates to a convention that comes from the same broken system.
"We need to bring real reform to Albany before we can move forward with a constitutional convention. This is the only way to ensure that the process will not be dominated by the same special interests that have caused the dysfunction and gridlock we are seeking to change. I look forward to working with Mayor Giuliani and others in a bipartisan way to bring real reform to the political system."