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\u201c[A] Cuomo Administration [will] work to enact into law important reforms at a constitutional convention including an overhaul of our redistricting process, ethics enforcement, and succession rules, among others\u2026. A new constitutional convention could be the vehicle for critical reforms to our State government.\u201d<\/p>\n
–Andrew Cuomo, From Clean Up Albany<\/a>, Cuomo2010 Campaign, pp. 71-2<\/em><\/p>\n “What we really need is a new state constitutional convention to re-think the way politics works in New York, and to re-imagine the powers of the governor and the state Legislature. The system is broken. It needs to be fixed in fundamental ways.”<\/p>\n –Mario Cuomo, From “Cuomo Looks Back – And Ahead,” New York Sun<\/em>, May 21, 2003<\/p>\n See also the C-SPAN video: Mario Cuomo Urges NY Constitutional Convention<\/a>. Description: Mario Cuomo attributes the failures of NY state politics on a flawed state constitution, and describes a state constitutional convention as “the only way” to solve the problems facing the state.<\/p>\n “One of the many lessons I\u2019ve learned in Albany is this: when those who have harvested most of the power oppose an idea, it\u2019s probably something worth considering. \u00a0We see a prime example of this on the issue of a constitutional convention…. [T]hose enjoying the spoils of the status quo \u2013 legislative majorities and high-powered special interests \u2013 oppose the idea of shaking things up. They are protecting the status quo by using fear and scare tactics to undermine a movement for positive change to our state government. But, we cannot be deterred or intimidated. Through a Constitutional Convention, the people can force action that lawmakers are unwilling to take.”<\/p>\n –Brian Kolb, Minority Leader of the New York State Assembly, \u201cThere is a very significant disquiet in the public today\u2026, and I see no downside whatsoever in convening a constitutional convention because I think the issues that are very much on the public\u2019s mind should be discussed in the most open and public forum that is possible.\u00a0 It could well come to deciding that we don\u2019t need to change any constitutional provisions.\u00a0 That in itself would be a serious and perhaps proper decision.\u00a0 But that there are questions out there that have to be thought about and considered and publicly debated I don\u2019t think anybody can argue with that.\u201d<\/p>\n –Richard Ravitch, Former New York Lieutenant Governor, Speech to the New York State Bar Association, January 27, 2016<\/p>\n “[Y]ears of experience have taught me that in every case the reason for the failures of good legislation in the public interest and the passage of ineffective and abortive legislation can be traced directly to the rules.”<\/p>\n –New York State Senator George F. Thompson Thompson,<\/em> New York Times, Dec. 23, 1918<\/em><\/p>\n “State government\u2019s dysfunction, corruption, and fiscal irresponsibility are still the ultimate trump card that can mobilize public opinion and serve as an urgent call to action. As symptoms of these \u201ccancers\u201d on government continue to manifest themselves…, the \u201ccase\u201d for convening a constitutional convention will be self-evident….<\/p>\n –Kolb, Republican Leader,\u00a0New York\u00a0Assembly, <\/em> “New York’s Last, Best Hope For Real Reform: The Case for Convening a State Constitutional Convention,” <\/em>Albany Government Law Review, 2011.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cGetting the legislature to make the necessary reforms to things like campaign finance, ethics, and the like is something that has to be done outside the of the hands of the legislature, and the only way to do that is through the constitutional convention process.\u201d<\/p>\n –Anthony Weiner, former member of Congress from New York City, <\/em> WNYC.com<\/a>, August 31, 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n “New York is now gripped by the dead hand of history. It is no coincidence that the elected officials who oppose a constitutional convention most relentlessly are the Democratic Assembly Speaker and Republican majority leader, the barons of the state’s ossified power structure.”<\/p>\n –New York Times Editorial, From Call a Constitutional Convention<\/a>, New York Times<\/em>, Oct. 28, 1997<\/p>\n “It has become an easy campaign pitch in New York: clean up Albany in one big sweep with a constitutional convention. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the leading candidate for governor at this point, has been touting his version as a ‘people\u2019s convention’ chock-full of reforms. As tempting as it sounds, \u2026 the political establishment \u2014 mainly the Legislature \u2014 gets to pick most of the delegates. If it sounds like an inside job, it is. Also, it is a big waste of time and money\u2026. Whether it is Mr. Cuomo or his rival who is elected, those reforms deserve to be urgent priorities \u2014 not some distant fantasy about a constitutional convention.”<\/p>\n –New York Times Editorial, From\u00a0The New York Convention Con<\/a>, New York Times<\/em>, August 8, 2010.<\/p>\n “[T]he written constitution and particularly the process of constitutional revision are the most democratic of our political institutions. \u00a0\u00a0The constitution and the constitutional\u00a0convention were created in the early days of the nation out of a felt\u00a0need to establish the popular sovereignty and limit the popular representatives.”<\/p>\n –Lewis B. Kaden, “Some Observations on the 1967 New York Constitutional Convention,” <\/em> Harvard Journal on Legislation, 1967<\/em><\/p>\n “The people who added this mandatory convention question to the New York Constitution in 1846 wanted to make sure that there was a way for the state’s citizens to review the basics of their government that was… not dependent on the will of [elected]\u00a0officials. \u00a0If the people are truly sovereign, they reasoned, we should consider from time to time whether we want to take a look at the fundamental rules of the game and perhaps change and update them.”<\/p>\n –-Peter G. Goldmark, Jr., President, Rockefeller Foundation, Cited in Decision 1997, p. xiii.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0“[The New York Constitution]\u00a0is a document neither known\u00a0nor read by the general public, or most public servants for that\u00a0matter; a document subject to neglect and ridicule; a document\u00a0filled with impenetrable prose, anachronisms, oddities, and\u00a0redundancies; a document encrusted with amendments that have\u00a0undermined the initial coherence of the constitution. By trivializing\u00a0its content, these provisions have done more than discourage\u00a0reading: they have derogated from the constitution\u2019s character as a\u00a0fundamental document, engendering disrespect if not ridicule.”<\/p>\nOther New York Politicians<\/h3>\n
\nThe case for a constitutional convention,<\/a>\u00a0AuburnPub.com<\/em>, February 7, 2017<\/p>\nThe New York Times<\/h3>\n
Academics<\/h3>\n