Western New York Activist Leads Charge For Constitutional Convention
Fri, 22 May 2009 13:27:00
Albany is awash in ideas for reforming what is often called the most dysfunctional state government in the country.
But Leonard Roberto, a conservative activist from Western New York, believes the only answer is to scrap the State Constitution, abolish the government and start from scratch.
A business owner (and former pastor) from rural Alden, a village with one main road and two stoplights, Roberto, 53, does not look like the type to take on the establishment in Albany.
“Somebody has to do it. By god, if nobody else will, I will, you know?” Roberto said. “Find somebody else with a PhD who wants to do this, and I’ll go back to making sheet metal parts.”
But back in the early 1990s, he “began to see how demanding the state of New York had become, and how demanding life had become” for the people of Western New York. Frustrated by the state’s high taxes, gerrymandering and “three men in a room” system, he ran for state office twice and Erie County executive once. He did not fare well.
In 2005, he founded Primary Challenge, a citizens’ group dedicated to putting forth non-establishment candidates to run in state primary elections and challenge entrenched politicians. But at this point, he says, corruption and dysfunction have gotten so bad in New York that the only solution is a referendum that would wipe the slate clean entirely.
Primary Challenge plans to hold a referendum of its own next May at citizen-run polling places—right alongside the Board of Elections voting booths—with a single issue on the ballot: vote yes or no to abolish the State Constitution. If they get four and a half million votes (the number of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election), he insists, the existing state government would lose its moral authority to govern.
That is not a totally ridiculous claim, said Blair Horner, legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group.
“It certainly would be compelling if they were able to pull that off, but it certainly wouldn’t be binding,” Horner says. “Groups like these periodically show up in New York, and they usually occur when people are getting increasingly frustrated with the government and the economy.”
The pie in the sky idea has found some resonance, he said, especially with frustration about high taxes and corruption. To wit, he points to the 20,000 unique visitors Primary Challenge.org attracted in the first 10 days after its launch, and the dozen or so guests his counter shows are perusing the site at any given time.
As for the idea of rewriting the Constitution itself, people are divided as to whether that would actually disentangle what has gone wrong with the state. Already under a clause in the constitution, voters must be presented every 20 years with the option of a constitutional convention to rewrite things completely. The last vote was in 1997. Voters passed on the chance.
The last time there was a constitutional convention, in 1967, the public did not ratify what was produced, meaning that New Yorkers have lived with the same constitution since the one written in 1938, which critics feel is both outdated and responsible for creating a more favorable environment for the power establishment.
Having another one soon should be considered, said Dr. Seymour Lachman, a former New York state senator and now a professor at Wagner College on Staten Island.
“Many of these constitutional conventions have really been very important,” Lachman explained. “For example, the constitutional convention in the 1930s occurring during FDR’s New Deal was very, very important in terms of labor and education, social welfare of that sort.”
The next referendum vote is scheduled for 2017. To have a convention before then would require the Legislature putting the measure on the ballot.
Roberto believes he can help spur all this to happen.
“Embedded within our law is the power for the people of New York to simply click their heels and abolish the existing government and start over,” Roberto said. “That the people will buy if we can get the word out to them.”
But Leonard Roberto, a conservative activist from Western New York, believes the only answer is to scrap the State Constitution, abolish the government and start from scratch.
A business owner (and former pastor) from rural Alden, a village with one main road and two stoplights, Roberto, 53, does not look like the type to take on the establishment in Albany.
“Somebody has to do it. By god, if nobody else will, I will, you know?” Roberto said. “Find somebody else with a PhD who wants to do this, and I’ll go back to making sheet metal parts.”
But back in the early 1990s, he “began to see how demanding the state of New York had become, and how demanding life had become” for the people of Western New York. Frustrated by the state’s high taxes, gerrymandering and “three men in a room” system, he ran for state office twice and Erie County executive once. He did not fare well.
In 2005, he founded Primary Challenge, a citizens’ group dedicated to putting forth non-establishment candidates to run in state primary elections and challenge entrenched politicians. But at this point, he says, corruption and dysfunction have gotten so bad in New York that the only solution is a referendum that would wipe the slate clean entirely.
Primary Challenge plans to hold a referendum of its own next May at citizen-run polling places—right alongside the Board of Elections voting booths—with a single issue on the ballot: vote yes or no to abolish the State Constitution. If they get four and a half million votes (the number of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election), he insists, the existing state government would lose its moral authority to govern.
That is not a totally ridiculous claim, said Blair Horner, legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group.
“It certainly would be compelling if they were able to pull that off, but it certainly wouldn’t be binding,” Horner says. “Groups like these periodically show up in New York, and they usually occur when people are getting increasingly frustrated with the government and the economy.”
The pie in the sky idea has found some resonance, he said, especially with frustration about high taxes and corruption. To wit, he points to the 20,000 unique visitors Primary Challenge.org attracted in the first 10 days after its launch, and the dozen or so guests his counter shows are perusing the site at any given time.
As for the idea of rewriting the Constitution itself, people are divided as to whether that would actually disentangle what has gone wrong with the state. Already under a clause in the constitution, voters must be presented every 20 years with the option of a constitutional convention to rewrite things completely. The last vote was in 1997. Voters passed on the chance.
The last time there was a constitutional convention, in 1967, the public did not ratify what was produced, meaning that New Yorkers have lived with the same constitution since the one written in 1938, which critics feel is both outdated and responsible for creating a more favorable environment for the power establishment.
Having another one soon should be considered, said Dr. Seymour Lachman, a former New York state senator and now a professor at Wagner College on Staten Island.
“Many of these constitutional conventions have really been very important,” Lachman explained. “For example, the constitutional convention in the 1930s occurring during FDR’s New Deal was very, very important in terms of labor and education, social welfare of that sort.”
The next referendum vote is scheduled for 2017. To have a convention before then would require the Legislature putting the measure on the ballot.
Roberto believes he can help spur all this to happen.
“Embedded within our law is the power for the people of New York to simply click their heels and abolish the existing government and start over,” Roberto said. “That the people will buy if we can get the word out to them.”
