Politics on the Hudson

Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, is continuing
the push for a constitutional convention in New York, launching today
an on-line petition to build support for a “People’s Convention to
Reform New York.” 

The website is www.reformny.org.

“As noted in two separate polls, a majority of voters are strongly in
favor of holding a People’s Convention to Reform New York – my on-line
petition seeks to keep this momentum going,” Kolb said in a statement.

A Quinnipiac poll found that 64 percent of New Yorkers support it, and a Siena poll found 63 percent do also.

The
pitch is that a constitutional convention would allow New Yorkers to
vote on changes to the state constitution. Kolb said delegates at the
convention could consider reforms, such as a state spending and a real
property tax cap; debt reform and requiring a two-thirds majority of
the Legislature to approve tax increases.

Establishing a
constitutional convention comes up on the ballot every 20 years. It was
rejected in 1997 and will appear on the ballot in 2017, unless state
lawmakers agree to do it sooner.