Wednesday, March 2, 2011

 

NYS Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs issued the following statement today regarding the NYS Senate GOP's Promises Made/Promises Broken:

“Since Senate Republicans regained the Majority, they’ve flip-flopped more than the International House of Pancakes. They promised fiscal discipline only to massively expand their own staff, adding more than two-dozen employees and $1 million in new salaries. They promised ethics reform, yet won’t walk the walk by requiring legislators to reveal the names of their legal clients.”   

“And, now, after promising voters that they would support independent redistricting, Republicans claim that the whole initiative is unconstitutional.  The Constitution didn’t change after the election.  The only thing that did change was the Senate GOP’s willingness to live up to their commitments to New Yorkers.”

“Sadly, Republicans believe breaking their campaign pledges on the budget and on ethics is easier than making the hard decisions necessary to confront the challenges facing this state.”

Promises Made/Promises Broken
By NYS Senate Republicans
Promises Made:
"State Senate Republicans appreciate the effort that NY Uprising is undertaking to bring about much-needed reform to the State of New York," said Skelos, who signed the pledge on July 21. "Our Republican conference supports further budget reform, stronger ethics reforms and independent redistricting in line with what NY Uprising is calling for, which is why we decided to sign the NY Uprising pledges."

Promises Broken:
Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch is accusing Senate Republicans of "derailing" redistricting reform, and breaking a pledge they made to the ex-mayor’s reform group during the most recent election campaign. A number of legislators, including nearly all of the Senate Republicans, signed a pledge to former Koch and his reform group saying they would back an independent redistricting commission to draw the new Senate, Assembly and Congressional lines, as required every 10 years under the Census Bureau rules.

Promises Broken:
The state's fiscal crisis hasn't stopped Senate Republicans from boosting their payroll by $1.3 million since the start of the year. Incumbent GOPers, who've boasted of belt-tightening since taking over the Senate in January, have hired 27 new staffers - at a cost of $1 million to taxpayers. Republicans have also handed out more than $284,600 in raises to existing employees since the start of the year, Senate payroll records show.

Promises Broken:
The report also revealed that Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau), a lawyer with large Long Island firm Ruskin Moscou Faltischek that represents health-care clients before state agencies, was refusing to agree to disclose the names of legal clients, although he backs the disclosure of outside income. Asked again yesterday if he’s willing to join Silver in agreeing to divulge the names of legal clients, a Skelos spokesman yesterday repeatedly refused to answer.

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