the albany project

It seems upstate conservatives are calling for the ouster of State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno.

From Albany's Insanity via the Politicker:

Upstate Conservatives Coalition Calls for the Ouster of Joe Bruno

Senate Majority Leader Is One Man Legislature

Upstate Conservatives has formed to restore conservative ideals in New York State government. The same coalition that launched the website www.dumpjeffbrown.com is now calling for the resignation of Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. Upstate Conservatives is presently headed by former New York State Conservative Party Vice-Chairman Jim Brewster and includes a cross section of bipartisan political leaders and citizens. During the past election season members of Upstate Conservatives played a role in defeating Senator Bruno and Assemblyman Jeff Brown in their attempt to purchase the 49th New York Senate District for 1.5 million dollars.

In his tenure as majority leader Bruno has created a dictatorship in the New York State Senate that goes against the most basic principles of democracy.

Only after being sued by journalists has Joe Bruno agreed to release detailed information about millions of dollars of public funds spent under his direction. Each year Bruno alone distributes these funds to senators with no public oversight and no accountability. Citizens who live in minority districts receive millions less in tax dollars than those represented by members of Bruno’s Republican majority many of who use vast amounts of public funds to support pet projects and clandestinely reward political supporters.

Joe Bruno has continually courted the support of the New York State Conservative Party, but at the same time has supported legislation that is in direct opposition to the party’s platform i.e. SONDA etc.

Working with his assembly counterpart, Speaker Sheldon Silver, Bruno has been able to effectively stop true legislative reform in Albany; gerrymander legislative districts to ensure election outcomes, and create an overload of bureaucrats on the public payroll. (Silver must go too, but that is a job for the Democrats to try again.)

“The Republican Party is on life support under Joe Bruno,” said Jim Brewster. “As indicated by Dave Valesky’s victory, the voters have clearly rejected Bruno politics. The time has come for Joe Bruno to go.”

Upstate Conservatives will be launching a variety of initiatives during the upcoming legislative session to excite public interest in Bruno's resignation. We will be reaching out to potential Conservative replacements for Senator Bruno to ensure they have the necessary support to challenge him. Upstate Conservatives firmly believes that by freeing the senate to function in an honest and open fashion, true legislative reform can begin in New York.

--All emphasis mine

Wow. It's good to know that New York conservatives are as unhappy as the rest of us with the state of things in Albany and as pissed off at the biggest roadblocks to real reform - namely the heads of the two chambers of the legislature. I welcome the upstate conservatives to the fight.

Too bad New York dems didn't see it the same way this past cycle.

Posted by downtown on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 at 4:18 PM | Permalink