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Old 10-24-2017, 07:30 AM
 
Location: Proxima Centauri
5,768 posts, read 3,193,443 times
Reputation: 6094

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It's a waste of money and a lobbyist field day!

It’s A Politician’s Convention!

  • During the last convention, four out of five delegates were career politicians and Albany insiders;
  • And every politician who ran for a delegate seat that year, won a delegate seat;
  • And who ran the show? All of the convention leaders were sitting legislators;
  • Most troubling? Thanks to Citizens United, corporate special interests can spend unlimited money getting their cronies elected; and
  • Do you trust Albany insiders to do what’s right? Don’t risk it.
It’s just not necessary!

  • A process already exists to amend the state constitution, and it doesn’t cost a thing;
  • For example, the state Legislature passed an amendment in 2013 expanding casino gambling. The same process could be used for new amendments;
  • Opening the state constitution is like opening Pandora’s Box;
    You can’t predict what changes delegates will make;
  • The last time a convention took place it was a complete failure; voters rejected every proposed constitutional change; and
  • Don’t add to Albany waste.
A waste of tax dollars!

  • Experts estimate a constitutional convention will cost hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars;
  • Lawmakers can collect salaries and pension credits as elected officials and as delegates simultaneously;
  • The last time a constitutional convention took place, it cost taxpayers millions and accomplished nothing;
  • Constitutional conventions don’t have mandatory end dates -delegates keep meeting and taxpayers keep paying; and
  • Should taxpayers fund a party for Albany insiders? No!
Labor rights at risk!

  • At risk: The right to unionize and bargain collectively. Your union’s strength could be jeopardized;
  • At risk: Workers’ compensation. Safeguard your rights if you’re injured on the job;
  • At risk: Public pension protections. The constitution guarantees your pension will be there;
  • Other states have made drastic pension changes with disastrous results for active members and retirees. Don’t let it happen here; and
  • Don’t risk your rights/your future!


This information is from the PEF website: Constitutional-Convention-Toolkit | PEF
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Old 10-26-2017, 12:40 AM
 
49 posts, read 55,102 times
Reputation: 96
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tonyafd View Post
  • A process already exists to amend the state constitution, and it doesn’t cost a thing;
  • For example, the state Legislature passed an amendment in 2013 expanding casino gambling. The same process could be used for new amendments;
There are a host of issues the Legislature will never address, that could be addressed probably only through a constitutional convention. That is the point of having the convention. Albany is seen as useless.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tonyafd View Post
  • Experts estimate a constitutional convention will cost hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars
This is a false figure being parroted around by someone who adjusted for inflation twice (multiplied by 700% then again by 700%).

Last convention cost $7 million, which is $50 million in today's dollars, not hundreds of millions. And the NYS budget is $153 billion, so this is a drop in the bucket to fix otherwise unfixable problems and potentially save New Yorkers billions. Source
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tonyafd View Post
  • At risk: The right to unionize and bargain collectively. Your union’s strength could be jeopardized;
  • At risk: Workers’ compensation. Safeguard your rights if you’re injured on the job;
  • At risk: Public pension protections. The constitution guarantees your pension will be there;
  • Other states have made drastic pension changes with disastrous results for active members and retirees. Don’t let it happen here;
"Labor rights" have never been reduced in prior conventions. Source

Public Sector Unions have much more to fear from forthcoming decades of a GOP-appointed conservative US Supreme Court. You should have been waging this fight in 2016, because that battle is all but lost, unless no justices die or retire next 3 years and Dems win POTUS in 2020 (I certainly hope both these things happen, but the former is highly unlikely).

No states/municipalities have cut pensions to current retirees, aside from Ohio: Source

And States that have cut pensions have mostly just reduced benefits for new workers, with a smaller % reducing COLA adjustments or employee contributions for current workers, similar to inevitable fixes for Social Security as the population ages and lives longer. Source

Almost nobody but government employees receive pensions anymore. Why should taxpayers struggling to fund their own retirements be forced to pay out ever-increasing pension costs for public employees?
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Old 10-26-2017, 02:10 PM
 
91,974 posts, read 122,078,964 times
Reputation: 18136
Here is an opinion with similar sentiments: Voting no on New York
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