Backers of Constitutional Convention Seek Reforms

Urging an end to "dysfunction and chaos" in Albany, Assemblyman Robert J. Castelli brought the campaign for an early state constitutional convention to Mount Kisco Thursday.

The Goldens Bridge Republican, elected to the Assembly in February, asked his audience at American Legion Post No. 136 to "take the power out of the hands of politicians" by supporting legislation that would accelerate the date for a reform-minded convention.

The legislation, Assembly Bill A.9157, would put the question of whether to convene a constitutional convention on the ballot as early as this November, seven years sooner than its mandated appearance. The measure is co-sponsored by a number of lawmakers, including Castelli and Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb

Kolb posed two questions to some 40 people attending the Town Hall meeting: "Is state government working for you?" he asked, inviting a show of hands. When none was raised, the Canandaigua Republican said he had received the same answer at 15 previous Town Halls around the state. Similarly, no hands responded when he asked whether household income had risen 65 to 70 percent over he past 10 years. "Our incomes," he said, "can't keep pace with spending by state government."   

Kolb conducted a primer on the mechanics of a convention, which he estimated would cost $25 million to $30 million to mount. Delegates—three in each of the state's 62 senatorial districts as well as three statewide—would be chosen by the voters. None, he said, could serve simultaneously as a delegate and elected officeholder. "If you want to be a delegate, you've got to give up the day job," Kolb said.

A veteran of 10 years in the Assembly, Kolb called a constitutional convention the correct venue in which to "effect change without [its] being construed as partisan politics."

In a year that saw Albany lawmakers fail to enact a budget until this month, 125 days late, calls for reform of state government appear to resonate. "The dysfunction and chaos in Albany are spiraling out of control," Castelli said while Kolb noted it was "much easier to stop a bill in Albany than get it done." Both are calling in these town halls for a "People's Convention to Reform New York."

Support for a convention, if not the specific legislation Kolb and the others are pursuing, has been growing without regard to party lines. The state's gubernatorial candidates favor a convention, Kolb said, as do former officeholders like Gov. Mario Cuomo and New York City mayors Edward Koch and Rudolph Giuliani. Still, Kolb acknowledged, it would take a "miracle" to put the question to voters in November.

If it fails to make the ballot this year, Kolb said he would renew the effort in 2011 to enact the legislation, which he describes as nonpartisan. That would place the question on the ballot in November 2011, six years earlier than its mandated 2017 appearance.

By law, New Yorkers must be asked every 20 years whether they want a constitutional convention. Voters said no in 1997, the last time they were asked. The state has held nine constitutional conventions since its first one in 1777, the most recent taking place in 1967. Voters subsequently rejected the proposed new charter. 

Kolb fielded questions from the floor and later joined with Castelli in mingling with the attendees. Among those at the meeting were a number of prominent Westchester Republicans, including Bedford Supervisor Lee V.A. Roberts, Lewisboro Councilman Peter DeLucia, congressional candidates Nan Hayworth of Mount Kisco, Mark Rosen of Larchmont and Mike Ramondelli of Yonkers, who is running for the Assembly in the 93rd A.D.