The normal plan for me is to post a blog every Monday and Friday. And I was really excited to share with you our new initiatives this week: The Scorecard: A Judgment Day Primer for Voters and our 2010 campaign called “11.2.2010…Judgment Day for State Legislator\s.” These two important programs will allow us to tell you exactly what takes place at the Capitol and who the good and bad actors are within each party. And Judgment Day is really what we are talking about…poor decisions by elected officials means they don’t get to go back and represent us.
But, given the events of yesterday and the question we posed to our Facebook fans, I wanted to wait. I wanted to see the ideas you have to fix our state government. The good news for us, we all tend to agree with each other.
For instance, you write about getting rid of the rich benefits for state employees. We are not opposed to them getting benefits, they should. But right now those benefits are more than 68% higher than in the private sector. That is why we have proposed changing two state laws: Taylor and the Triborough Amendment, to eliminate the advantage public employees have over our municipal government. We need to free up our town and city leaders, and our school boards, and allow them to negotiate affordable wages and benefits.
You also think that elected officials should be treated just like you and me. Just because you hold office doesn’t mean that you are entitled to a better retirement option. We agree. That is why we are going to help Assemblyman Fitzpatrick from Long Island advance his bill to get all elected officials and non-civil service jobs out of the current defined benefit plan (guaranteed by our taxes) and into a 401K plan… just like the one you and I get from our employers. If they are truly committed to being like us, then they should easily sign onto this bill and take the same risks we do in the market. Not only will it save the state millions, it will help eliminate career politicians that move from one job to another just to get their 20 years in and better pension.
But what I read that I really liked more than any of the postings on our Facebook page came from Frank Maston. Frank pointed out that unless we vote, things won’t change. I couldn’t agree with Frank more…unless each and every one of us gets out there and votes for the right people, it won’t matter how much we talk about the problems and offer solutions. So it is up to each and every one of us to not only vote ourselves, but encourage everyone we know to do the same thing. The money we will raise is needed and helps us swing a pretty big stick.
But on November 2… Judgment Day for them and for us… it is the vote carries the power. Do we have the courage to do what is right and take back our state? I believe we do!
