Call your legisators!
We can use this opportunity
to change the future course of New York State government.
Our involvement is essential.
If we ordinary citizens act together to demand
substantial
reform, we will be unstoppable.
Education
Economy and jobs
Health care
Property taxes
As members of the community, we are distressed
with the quality, access, and
cost of Education and Health Care. We are alarmed
by our deteriorating
economy and the decreased quality and quantity
of jobs. We want housing to
be affordable and property taxes are a substantial
part of that equation.
All these issues are largely controlled by our
state legislature and we are
fed up with the constant record of legislative
failure across the board.
Here are some reasons why it matters
to people like you and me.
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Education
The Campaign for Fiscal Equity sued New York
State for not providing a constitutionally-required
basic education. When the courts decided in favor
of CFE, The legislature and the governor spent
state money defending the status quo in court
rather than addressing the problem. In spite
of the highest per-pupil costs in the nation,
students in many areas of the state are dealing
with crumbling buildings and lack of textbooks.
With the Four R's, legislators who fail to respond
to systemic education issues are likely to be
replaced with those who will.
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Economy
and jobs
The statistics are undeniable - individuals
and industries are leaving our state in droves.
The legislature ignores long-standing problems
such as worker's compensation reform and ballooning
state debt. This hits you and me right in the
pocketbook, but lawmakers have insulated themselves
from the real world where payrolls have to be
met. The Four R's would force legislators to
be more accountable to citizens, and allow us
to propose our own solutions to these problems.
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Health care
Medicaid is a huge part of the state budget,
increasing at four times the rate of inflation.
Another pocketbook issue, yet the legislature
continually refuses to control the costs or to
deal with fraud and inefficiency. The
Four
R's will help elect legislators who pay more attention
to citizens than to special interests.
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Property
taxes
The legislature's approach to many problems
is to sweep them under the rug by mandating performance
without providing any funding for it. Local property
owners take the biggest hits. Legislators can
do this because they are largely insulated from
voter pressure. The Four
R's are aimed at ending
the incumbency-protection system that lets legislators
avoid responsibility.
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