Pubdate: Tue, 30 Apr 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Section: New York Region
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Richard Perez-Pena

STATE SENATE VOTES TO ADOPT VOTER-SPONSORED INITIATIVES

ALBANY - Under heavy pressure from the Independence Party, the State Senate 
voted today to adopt a system of voter-sponsored ballot initiatives - the 
first time either house of the Legislature has taken such a step.

The 57-to-3 vote represented a rather abrupt about-face for the Republican 
majority in the Senate, which had opposed the measure. And even today, 
Republican senators were blunt about their misgivings and the political 
considerations behind the vote. They also stressed that there was little 
chance that the constitutional amendment they endorsed today would come to 
pass, because it is opposed by the Democratic majority in the Assembly.

Independence Party leaders have called an initiative system their top 
priority, and the Conservative Party has lobbied for it, too.

The Independence Party, affiliated with the national Reform Party founded 
by Ross Perot, has begun playing the game long ago perfected by the Liberal 
and Conservative parties of getting what it wants by offering to give its 
ballot line to major-party candidates, or threatening to withhold it.

Gov. George E. Pataki, a Republican, has aggressively courted the party in 
preparation for his run this year for a third term, and has gained strong 
support from party leaders, who cite his support for an initiative system.

But the governor's stroll to the Independence nomination could be tripped 
up by B. Thomas Golisano, the Rochester billionaire who was the party's 
candidate for governor in 1994 and 1998 and who is expected to announce on 
Wednesday that he will run again this year. Some state senators said that 
the timing of today's vote was meant to steal a bit of Mr. Golisano's thunder.

Though a rival faction allied with Lenora Fulani - and Mr. Pataki - has 
taken over much of the Independence Party leadership, Mr. Golisano could 
give Mr. Pataki a serious fight in a primary. If he were the nominee, Mr. 
Golisano would be well positioned to draw votes away from the governor in 
November; he fares best upstate, and his platform of fiscal conservatism 
mixed with socially liberal and populist views resembles Mr. Pataki's own.

Many lawmakers in both parties dislike a system that allows voters to 
bypass the Legislature - and undermine its power - by collecting signatures 
to put initiatives on the ballot. They warn of becoming like California, 
where interest groups spend millions of dollars to get initiatives passed 
and where the process has produced results like laws legalizing marijuana 
for medical use and withholding most government services from illegal 
immigrants.

The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, has said he opposes an initiative 
system and will not bring the matter to a vote in his house.

As recently as March, when Mr. Pataki held a news conference calling for 
initiatives, the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, said he did not 
support the idea. Today, he and his colleagues were less than enthusiastic 
in explaining their conversion.

Mr. Bruno cited a long list of measures, like changes in the state's 
dysfunctional budget-making process, that the Assembly had refused to pass. 
"I guess, out of frustration, we're just moving this process," he said.

Senator Carl L. Marcellino, a Long Island Republican, said, "This brings 
the issue to the table, as some people have requested." When asked what 
people he meant, he said, "The Independence Party and the Conservative Party."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth