The Lonely Preacher
Camara calls out for reform, but gets no response from colleagues
Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:55:00
Assembly Member Karim Camara (D-Brooklyn) is a Baptist pastor, and he believes in preaching, even if that means getting thrown to the lions.
“The role of the prophet is to address the conditions,” Camara said, “not to think about the consequences.”
An upcoming “white paper” Camara is set to release—suggesting a number of radical Assembly rule changes that fly in the face of Democratic leadership—may test his faith.
While the report is not yet fully fleshed out, an outline Camara shared with The Capitol tentatively titled “How to Fix Albany”, offers seven suggestions that would increase the power of the Assembly’s minority Republicans and all of its rank-and-file members.
A number of academic reports from outside groups have detailed steps to improve the legislative process. Camara believes his suggestions will carry more weight.
“The best kind of pressure is from members who say, ‘These are the types of changes we need to make,’” Camara said.
Perhaps his most controversial proposal would place term limits on all legislative leadership positions, including 15-year Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan). That is a step even further than a recent Brennan Center for Justice report—which nonetheless proposed enough changes to have Silver call it “nonsense”—dared to go.
Modeled after the operations of Congress, Camara’s plan also calls for equal distribution of resources among all members regardless of party, leadership position to be voted on by the whole body, for committee chairs to hire and fire their own staffs and for the open sponsorship of bills.
Those changes would require internal rule revisions.
Camara also says he will introduce a bill requiring the spending of all state funds to be posted on the Internet.
Reform advocates give Camara’s plan a thumbs-up.
“This would absolutely change the way that Albany does business,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of New York Common Cause.
But the effort is, of course, fraught with political risks for Camara, who said he has been increasingly frustrated with the status quo over the three years since he replaced imprisoned Assembly Member Clarence Norman (D-Brooklyn) in 2006.
The white paper is the next step for Camara in a process that began two years ago, when he and Assembly Members Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan), Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) pledged to forgo fundraisers in Albany during the session, as well as to refuse soft money and donations from staffers or organizations that receive member items they oversee. That announcement, Camara said, prompted Silver to phone him and Jeffries to tell them they had embarrassed the Assembly.
Silver’s office declined comment on any interaction between them.
Now Camara is proposing what amounts to a direct rebuke of leadership. So while he hopes to roll out his new plans with at least a handful of other Assembly members, he may have to go it alone.
His previous partners Rosenthal, Kavanagh and Jeffries declined repeated requests seeking comment on whether they would join Camara’s effort.
Camara said a number of members have endorsed his plan in private, but that a “fear factor” has prevented anyone from joining his effort publicly yet.
Lawrence Norden, co-author the Brennan Center for Justice’s Still Broken: New York State Legislative Reform 2008 Update, said he believes the reasons are clear.
“It means risking a lot, whether it’s chair positions on committees, or the financial resources to run an office,” Norden said. “It’s real. It’s not in any way hypothetical. Those who buck leadership in Albany get punished.”
Camara said he will submit a copy of “How to Fix Albany” to Silver before he formally proposes any rule changes or introduces any legislation. A spokesperson for the speaker declined to comment before Camara’s report is actually released other than to say that “we have always done rules reform” in the Assembly.
The State Senate, meanwhile, is looking seriously at many of the same kind of reforms Camara is suggesting, according to a person who has read a draft copy of a report being written by Senate Democrats on the body’s temporary Rules Reform Committee.
As in what Camara has suggested for the Assembly, the Senate committee’s draft reportedly contains a provision allowing an individual member to demand an up or down vote on whether a bill is moved from the Senate calendar to Senate floor. This would reduce leadership’s control over the agenda.
The Senate Democrats, however, reportedly have not tackled the issue of resource allocation in the draft report.
Camara admitted he is unlikely to make much headway by himself, but said if the Senate leadership follows through on its promised reforms by the end of the year, the Assembly leadership will be pressured to follow suit.
As for the effect his efforts will have on his own political career, Camara declined to speculate.
“At some point,” Camara said, “it’s time to let the chips fall where they may.”
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ABOVE: Assembly Member Karim Camara is standing by himself on an Assembly reform proposal. Photo by: Barry Sloan
“The role of the prophet is to address the conditions,” Camara said, “not to think about the consequences.”
An upcoming “white paper” Camara is set to release—suggesting a number of radical Assembly rule changes that fly in the face of Democratic leadership—may test his faith.
While the report is not yet fully fleshed out, an outline Camara shared with The Capitol tentatively titled “How to Fix Albany”, offers seven suggestions that would increase the power of the Assembly’s minority Republicans and all of its rank-and-file members.
A number of academic reports from outside groups have detailed steps to improve the legislative process. Camara believes his suggestions will carry more weight.
“The best kind of pressure is from members who say, ‘These are the types of changes we need to make,’” Camara said.
Perhaps his most controversial proposal would place term limits on all legislative leadership positions, including 15-year Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan). That is a step even further than a recent Brennan Center for Justice report—which nonetheless proposed enough changes to have Silver call it “nonsense”—dared to go.
Modeled after the operations of Congress, Camara’s plan also calls for equal distribution of resources among all members regardless of party, leadership position to be voted on by the whole body, for committee chairs to hire and fire their own staffs and for the open sponsorship of bills.
Those changes would require internal rule revisions.
Camara also says he will introduce a bill requiring the spending of all state funds to be posted on the Internet.
Reform advocates give Camara’s plan a thumbs-up.
“This would absolutely change the way that Albany does business,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of New York Common Cause.
But the effort is, of course, fraught with political risks for Camara, who said he has been increasingly frustrated with the status quo over the three years since he replaced imprisoned Assembly Member Clarence Norman (D-Brooklyn) in 2006.
The white paper is the next step for Camara in a process that began two years ago, when he and Assembly Members Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan), Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) pledged to forgo fundraisers in Albany during the session, as well as to refuse soft money and donations from staffers or organizations that receive member items they oversee. That announcement, Camara said, prompted Silver to phone him and Jeffries to tell them they had embarrassed the Assembly.
Silver’s office declined comment on any interaction between them.
Now Camara is proposing what amounts to a direct rebuke of leadership. So while he hopes to roll out his new plans with at least a handful of other Assembly members, he may have to go it alone.
His previous partners Rosenthal, Kavanagh and Jeffries declined repeated requests seeking comment on whether they would join Camara’s effort.
Camara said a number of members have endorsed his plan in private, but that a “fear factor” has prevented anyone from joining his effort publicly yet.
Lawrence Norden, co-author the Brennan Center for Justice’s Still Broken: New York State Legislative Reform 2008 Update, said he believes the reasons are clear.
“It means risking a lot, whether it’s chair positions on committees, or the financial resources to run an office,” Norden said. “It’s real. It’s not in any way hypothetical. Those who buck leadership in Albany get punished.”
Camara said he will submit a copy of “How to Fix Albany” to Silver before he formally proposes any rule changes or introduces any legislation. A spokesperson for the speaker declined to comment before Camara’s report is actually released other than to say that “we have always done rules reform” in the Assembly.
The State Senate, meanwhile, is looking seriously at many of the same kind of reforms Camara is suggesting, according to a person who has read a draft copy of a report being written by Senate Democrats on the body’s temporary Rules Reform Committee.
As in what Camara has suggested for the Assembly, the Senate committee’s draft reportedly contains a provision allowing an individual member to demand an up or down vote on whether a bill is moved from the Senate calendar to Senate floor. This would reduce leadership’s control over the agenda.
The Senate Democrats, however, reportedly have not tackled the issue of resource allocation in the draft report.
Camara admitted he is unlikely to make much headway by himself, but said if the Senate leadership follows through on its promised reforms by the end of the year, the Assembly leadership will be pressured to follow suit.
As for the effect his efforts will have on his own political career, Camara declined to speculate.
“At some point,” Camara said, “it’s time to let the chips fall where they may.”
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ABOVE: Assembly Member Karim Camara is standing by himself on an Assembly reform proposal. Photo by: Barry Sloan
