In fairness, the details of the bill announced by the Governor have some very appealing aspects - if they ever make it into law. But just introducing a bill and watching it die, untouched, in the Legislature is simply not enough. In fact, introducing this bill towards the very end of the 2 year legislative session can be seen as a pretty cynical move. It's just past time to stop giving our elected officials an "A" for Effort and start looking at results. And results means only one thing: actual laws.

Did you know that New York has the highest number of bills introduced in the Legislature of any state and that the proportion of bills that actually pass into law is among the lowest of any state? There is a long tradition of our elected officials writing up bills on important issues that would make very good laws that are introduced into the Legislature and then languish. No co-sponsors, no hearings, nothing being done by the sponsor to move it along, the bill sits unaided and untouched until it dies at the end of the session. In fact, Governor Pataki did something very similar, i.e., introduce a reasonable campaign finance bill that he hadn't discussed with any of the legislative leaders toward the end of a legislative session and proudly point to his accomplishment as the bill went nowhere.

Why bother to do something like this? Why introduce a bill that has no hope of passage and for which the sponsor doesn't even plan to try to do much with? Because the bill can function as an excuse and a shield for the legislator. When questioned on what he or she has done on an important issue, the official can truthfully say, "Well I care about that issue - in fact, I wrote and introduced a very strong bill on it. Unfortunately, because of opposition from [fill in the blank: the Assembly, the Senate, the Democrats, the Republicans], it did not become law."

How to put an end to this? Holding our elected officials accountable. We elect them to represent us by addressing our state's problems. To be effective. How is an elected official effective? By getting his or her proposals actually passed into law. We need to ask each elected official, when they run for re-election and during the legislative session, "What percentage of the bills that you introduced actually were signed into law?" Common Cause will shortly issue a "Pledge for Change" that our members can present to candidates running for state office this fall.

But back to Governor Paterson and the campaign finance bill he has announced. The bill that he has announced sounds like a good bill with good provisions. In fact, it's already received a glowing comment from one of our frequent reform coalition partners, who applaud the Governor for simply introducing the bill and who now see the ball as in the Legislature's court. While we're glad that the Governor introduced a late, but strong bill, rather than no bill or a weak bill, we think that the Governor needs to do more than simply lob the bill out there. Certainly, the anticipated introduction of a revised Silver public funding bill in the waning days of the session raises the same issues. And yes, the Governor has only been Governor since March, but with his past history of supporting reform, these issues are very familiar to him, so we expected quicker action. It's time to break the pattern of introducing bills at the end of the session for symbolic value (also known as "bragging rights") and introduce bills early enough in the session so that they can be worked.

Governor Paterson should call a leadership meeting to be held in public next week, so that he can negotiate with the leaders of the 2 houses, in the open. He should put President Pro tem Bruno and Speaker Silver on the spot: Do they support this bill and if not, why not? What would they support? The public could then assess who is serious about campaign finance reform and who is not. That would be setting the agenda and exhibiting true commitment to reform and strong leadership.

The Governor has taken the right first step, and now, with the few days left in the legislative session, he's got to follow through.