New York State Does Not Need Professional Politicians

Because New York State government is now almost exclusively controlled by downstate Democrats, the expansion of state government into every aspect of our lives accelerated during the last legislative session. This was true with both economic and social policy. For example, the state expanded rent-control regulations to Upstate, which has the potential of limiting what landlords can charge for rent. The New York City politician-sponsored Farm Labor Act was enacted, which will further regulate our upstate agricultural industry. The legislation that will have perhaps the largest impact on the lives of all New Yorkers, was the enactment of the so-called Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act — a law so expansive that it will regulate every aspect of our lives including what type of cars we drive, how our houses are heated and cooled, and how our electricity is generated. 

With progressive Democrats in charge of state government, it comes as no surprise that this type of legislation was adopted. During debates over these bills, Democrats argued that the legislation was necessary to protect New Yorkers — particularly those who have been seen as traditionally disadvantaged. No one would argue that helping the disadvantaged is not an honorable goal, but Democrats and Republicans just differ on how to accomplish that.

In this context, it’s surprising that downstate Democrats would be pushing so hard for the implementation of two policies that would help no one except state politicians — people who everyone would agree are the antithesis of the disadvantaged. The two policies are the creation of a full-time state legislature and public funding of political campaigns.

Interestingly, these proposals are not being implemented in a traditional manner. The creation of a full-time legislature is a policy that was attempted to be imposed by an unelected commission made up of downstate Democrats empaneled by Gov. Cuomo and the legislative majorities to review legislative and executive branch salaries. The commission made the specious argument that a full-time legislature would prevent corruption even though the corruption that has plagued Albany has not been tied to legislators’ outside employment. Fortunately, two courts held that the commission exceeded its authority in its attempt to impose a full-time legislature on New Yorkers. From a policy perspective, New Yorkers should be thankful that the courts repudiated the commission’s overreach. A full-time legislature will create a professional political class that will be solely dependent on state government for its income. Instead of professional politicians, we should be encouraging citizen legislators who have diverse occupational backgrounds and who can bring a diversity of thought and experience to state government.

The second proposal, public funding of political campaigns, also has the potential of being imposed by an unelected commission. As part of the 2019-20 state budget, the governor and legislature created a commission tasked with creating a system for publicly funded political campaigns — that is, simply, using taxpayer money to fund the campaigns of state politicians. The budget also included $100 million for the effort. The commission has until Dec. 1, 2019 to come up with its plan. The legislature then has until Dec. 22 to reject the plan — otherwise whatever the commission comes up with becomes law. Putting aside that this is a constitutionally dubious way to enact state law, public funding of campaigns is also bad policy.

In 1989, New York City (NYC) enacted a law to publicly fund city campaigns. Proponents claimed that doing so would limit the influence of private money in elections and encourage more citizen participation. Neither has happened. Current NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio alone spent more than $10 million in private donations on his last election in addition to the public money his campaign received. Since the implementation of public financing, voter turnout continues to be at some of the lowest percentages in the country. Lastly, there is something inherently troublesome about using taxpayer money to support political candidates. Why should a person’s tax dollars be used to support candidates with whom they do not agree?              

William (Will) A. Barclay is the Republican representative of the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact him at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us or (315) 598-5185.