Dear Lucas,
I write to wish you a healthy and productive 2011 and update you on Citizens Union's plans for the year ahead.
Early in the new year, Citizens Union is cautiously optimistic that two of our long-held goals of reforming state government will occur in Albany in 2011 - redistricting and ethics reform. I had the good fortune to attend Governor Cuomo's State of the State address last week and was very pleased with the central place he gave to an ambitious reform agenda that includes those two major items.
Citizens Union's biggest goal this year is to end partisan gerrymandering and see the creation of an independent redistricting commission to draw district lines. Over the past few months, in fact the last several years, we have been steadily building support in the legislature where we now have the support of a large majority of legislators in both houses. Governor Cuomo, who ran on this issue and has pledged to veto any lines drawn by the legislature that reflect partisan gerrymandering, mentioned it in his speech and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, much to my delight, also voiced support in his address preceding the State of the State. A perfect storm may be brewing to blow away the political manipulation of drawing legislative lines in New York, once and for all.
But we can't sit back and wait for it to happen. Within weeks Citizens Union will launch ReShape NY, a statewide grassroots campaign to keep the heat on state lawmakers to follow through with promises on redistricting made during last fall's election campaign. We will be reaching out to you to ask you to lend your voice again to our calls for change in Albany. Your support has already helped us change the conversation in Albany from "if" we will get redistricting reform to "how" the reform will happen.
While redistricting reform is the centerpiece of our Albany reform effort, we will also be pushing for reforms in ethics and campaign finance. Governor Cuomo called in his speech for ending pay-to-play, creating an independent ethics oversight body for the legislative and executive branches, requiring full disclosure by legislators of their outside income, and enacting public financing of state election campaigns - all measures that Citizens Union has long championed. We also hope to put forth nonpartisan solutions to solving the state's budget problems and fiscal crisis.
Watch in the coming weeks for more information on ReShape NY and how you can get involved. I hope you will join us!
Sincerely,
Dick Dadey
Executive Director
P.S. Your financial support remains crucial to our efforts. Please make a gift to ReShape NY today.