Elana Levin

What happens in Albany, stays in Albany

Last week was Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week is "An effort to maintain public access to government information and promote public awareness of this issue" (because "Freedom of Information Act Week" just doesn't sound as catchy as a name that could be a song by Donovan). DMI did our part to promote government transparency and accountability by releasing our New York State Middle Class Scorecard and with its now famed Google AdWords campaign.

Sunshine Week is about Freedom of Information Act type issues so how does a legislative scorecard fit in to this? Well until recently, it was very hard for constituents to find out how their elected officials voted up in Albany. We elect them, why should it be so hard to find out how and what they are doing up there?

One well known tale that illustrates the problem is when State Senator Eric Schneiderman, new to Albany at that point, wanted to print a partial transcript of a debate that occurred on the floor of the State Senate in his newsletter. The Senate's majority appointed staff refused to let him print it. Floor debates aren't supposed to be secret. What where they talking about that was so private- dating problems? Hair-loss treatments? No, they were talking about legislation that impacts the public. We deserve to know what they think about it.

This stuff is still going on, even now. State Senator Liz Krueger told Newsday that the newsletters she sends to constituents have been censored. Language she'd written describing legislation her constituents supported and problems she had with budget procedure were censored and altered. Even after she complained about her newsletter being re-written, changes remained. One of the censored items was a caption below a photo of a rally to "Clean-up Albany". The censors had changed "clean-up" to "reform".

Oh that's real cute.

Some legislation strengthening the state Freedom of Information Act just passed Albany but the Times Union remains skeptical, saying how much more needs to be done. And the problem is not just in Albany, it is everywhere- especially in Washington under the current administration.

At the end of the day, the problem is that what happens in Albany DOESN'T stay in Albany, it comes home to our neighborhoods to roost in the form of bad legislation and hurtful policies. That's why we need to come together so that next year's Sunshine Week has more momentous results.

Posted by Elana Levin at March 20, 2006 12:00 PM