FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - CONTACT:  DAVID KOON - JULY 9, 2010 - The last few weeks in Albany have proven to be a thankless and frustrating job.  During these on-going and increasingly frustrating times, I have worked hard to remind myself why I am an elected official.  I originally ran for office because I wanted to help people and I feel that I have been fairly successful at it.  This is a job where you can’t please everyone, but the one thing I really take pride in is helping constituents navigate the state bureaucracy.  Our state system is complicated to say the least, and many constituents get bogged down and overwhelmed by it.  I am fortunate that my staff takes pride in the work they do in assisting me to make sure my constituents are well represented and that their issues with state government are resolved in a timely manner.  This is by far, the best part of the job.

Unfortunately, there’s more to the job than just helping the people I represent navigate the state system.  In the last few weeks in Albany, I’ve been reminded of the parts of the job that I don’t like.  The politics that go on and the back door deals and the priorities that are clearly geared towards New York City are enough to make any legislator from our area extremely downtrodden.  To add to this frustration, leadership has pushed through a budget that is entirely focused on New York City and actually will work against Western and Upstate New York.  I can say with confidence that I did everything I could this past session to advocate for the people of the 135th Assembly district but when you are working with a legislature that is so overly focused  on New York City,  it’s tough to get your point across.

Adding to my frustration is the fact that this year’s budget will throw more power and money to New York City, leaving upstate out in the cold.  For example, 36 million dollars have been slated for the summer jobs program for NYC but this money was taken out of TANF (social services and welfare dollars) that would have provided services all across New York State.  Another example is out of the 147 million dollar program for work force development for health care workers, 136 million will go directly to New York City leaving only 11 million to be distributed throughout the rest of the state.   These are only two examples of what is wrong with this budget.   In fact, when I review this budget, it appears that all the pork barrel funding (member items) that the Governor is cutting, have just been written into the budget by  leadership to benefit  New York City with very little consideration as to what this will do to Upstate and Western New York.  Upstate NY has been hurting for the last 15 years in the area of economic development and this budget is going to make it even worse.   Outside of New York City, the rest of the New York state region is going to have to contend with major cuts in educational funding, economic development and health care funding just to mention a few.   All these critical dollars are now going New York City and not to our region.

Even more frustrating is that New York City seems to be gaining more power instead of losing it. For example, Leadership has pushed for legislation that will count prisoners as residents in their home districts and not the prisons where they are being housed.  Ninety percent of our inmates are from the New York City region.  The prisons where they are incarcerated are primarily upstate.  Representation is based on census and population and these individuals in the prisons in the past, have been counted towards that population and helped to give upstate and western New York a bigger voice when it came to representation.  Now that prisoners will be counted from their home base, and with what the census numbers are currently showing, New York City will probably end up gaining two or three more representatives in the legislature.   This is just another example of how New York City is gaining more power. 

There’s a lot that needs to be changed in Albany.  It’s very easy to point out what’s wrong in our Capitol, but sometimes it’s hard to find solutions and even more difficult to implement them.  As I reflect on what I think would make our state more responsive to its citizens, I always come back to a few main reforms that I have supported. Campaign finance reform will remove big money influence from campaigns while opening the opportunity for anyone to run for office.  Independent redistricting removes the conflict of interest when those in power redraw 'safe' districts for themselves that suppresses democracy. Returning to a one senator per county ratio to balance the power between upstate and downstate would eliminate the strong hold of power that New York City currently has.  Last but not least are term limits on leadership posts.  With competitive elections from the other reforms, general turnover would be increased, helping add fresh blood and what this reform ensures is that even within the legislature, individuals don't accrue too much power.

I vocalized my opposition to this budget quite strongly but my obvious no vote against it wasn’t enough to stop this train wreck.  Right now I’m trying to focus on what did go right this session.  I was fortunate to be able to work hard to advocate for legislative change that will benefit nurses and will keep them safer in the work place.  In addition I was able to help rural New York with the passage of a New State law that I sponsored that will go a long way toward fostering community development and improving New York’s quality of life.  This law (ch.122 of 2010) will allow villages, towns and cities to offer zoning incentives to developers on the condition that the developers, in return, offer physical, social or cultural benefits to that community. Overall, this new law will help boost our rural economy. In addition, I sponsored important legislation (A.3913-A) which calls for the update of photos in the sex offender data bases. Updated photos of these predators are an essential element to protecting our children.  Over-all, I was and will continue to be very vocal about the need for reform and change in Albany.  It is evident that the current process in Albany is broken and I won’t back down until my constituents get the reform measures and the proper representation they deserve.  

It’s the concept of these reform issues, the positive legislative changes I’ve been able to advocate for, coupled with the positive feedback I get from my constituents that make me grateful to be representing the voters of the 135th Assembly district.  It is these priorities that help me to maintain my focus and continue my pursuit to fight for the constituents of the 135th district to make sure they are getting their fair share.