On Tuesday, April 29, almost 200 Common Cause activists and allies gathered in New York's capital for "take your ethics to work day" in order to demand more of our state government. Recent scandal (after scandal after scandal) has only reinforced the urgent need for changes to the way Albany does business.

A paper in Binghamton underscored this last week when it wrote: "If ever there was a state government in need of [reform] it's ours, which has correctly been labeled the most dysfunctional in the land. Albany is to government what Britney Spears is to motherhood." Legislators, Blair Horner of NYPIRG pointed out, "have to do something to regain the trust of the public before facing them in November."

We gathered for Reform Day 2008 to offer legislators a way to regain that trust. We provided principles of a reform agenda, endorsed by dozens of organizations throughout the state, around which they could craft meaningful reforms. The broad issues for reform include changes to the way campaigns are financed, the way the legislature operates, how legislators are held accountable to the public, and termination of the partisan gerrymandering in New York State.

Click "Read More" for more on Reform Day 2008.