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It's the final week of the New York State legislative session, and our last chance to tell lawmakers that they can't come home to their districts without first finishing the people's business in Albany.
Please send a message to key state legislative leaders today: Tell them to strengthen our state's ethics laws dramatically before the session ends.
www.commoncause.org/EthicsIn06
Lawmakers are telling us that the public doesn't care about ethics reform, but we know that's not true. New Yorkers don't think that lawmakers should be able to accept gifts from lobbyists, or receive extra pay from special interests for public speaking engagements – talking to the public is their job. And New Yorkers don't think that lawmakers should be allowed to turn their campaign accounts into personal slush funds.
Through their leadership roles, Senate Majority Leader Bruno and Assembly Speaker Silver control the fate of ethics legislation. As Chair of the Senate Elections Committee, Senator Flanagan also has an important role to play, particularly with respect to laws concerning the use of campaign funds for personal uses. Finally, as the Chair of the Assembly Ethics Committee, Assembly Member Cahill's support for ethics reform is crucial.
Email these legislators today. Tell them that this year you want to see legislation passed that would ban the spending of campaign contributions for personal uses, ban lobbyist gifts to lawmakers and ban lawmakers from accepting honoraria.
Once you have sent an email yourself, please help us amplify our call for reform by forwarding this action to five friends.
We must make sure that our state legislators know that we care about honest, ethical government and that we will hold them accountable for passing laws that improve the sorry state of ethics in New York.
www.commoncause.org/EthicsIn06
Thank you for all you do for Common Cause in New York!
Sincerely,
Rachel Leon
Executive Director
Common Cause New York
Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, grassroots democracy, New York State Politics Tagged: | book of the month, Uncategorized
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