I was annoyed with the Journal last week for publishing a list of candidates without noticing that there are caucuses yet to come, and they seem to have realized that in time for an editorial overview of races that wishes for more competition. Independent petitioning is underway now, and continues through August 23rd, and caucuses may be held as late as September 19th.
Also on the opinion page, Jay Gallagher pushes Governor Pataki to call for a special legislative session to tackle government reform, including things like independent legislative redistricting (#1 on my list, long-term), and tighter limits on fund-raising and gifts from lobbyists.
While looking for more on this, I found a piece by Jeremy Creelan of NYU's Brennan Center for Justice, the source of last year's report that may have embarrassed the legislature into the reform it undertook, takes a look at reforms the legislature passed last year and what remains to be fixed. There's also an article on the practical impact of the remaining barriers.
I'm not sure that the legislature would be thrilled to pass these reforms even if the Governor called the session, but it's good to see the Governor being brought into these discussions as well.
Posted by simon at July 18, 2005 8:45 AM in Ithaca Journal , politics (local) , politics (state)