Reforms in Albany remain cosmetic only
BRIAN ACKLEY Political Columnist
We're just mere days away from Eliot Spitzer's final ascension to his Albany

throne, assuming the only skeleton that comes out of his closet between now and Nov. 7 is nothing more than one of his teenage daughter's musty old Halloween costumes.

Of course, he won't be the only one who will take his elected spot in the state capital come Jan. 1 who barely had to break a sweat in seeking their respective offices. All 212 state lawmakers - and their near six-figure salaries, when you figure in perks, stipends, reimbursements and any other word you can think of for extra cash in their bloated pay checks that don't fall under the heading of actual salary - are up for re-election as well this year. About 210 will stroll in without having to wear out even one pair of shoes; so inconsequential is their opposition in most cases.

Let's put it this way. Tom Casey is probably a nice guy. I, for one, had never even heard of him until I got an e-mail from him a couple of weeks ago, noting he is running against Albany graybeard Dale Volker, who basically continues to hang around to simply make sure the Senate, with its four Republican majority, doesn't lose its grip on the one center of power that the GOP can still call their own in New York. Just for a touch of perspective here, remember that Volker took his Senate seat two years before Buffalo's last historic snow event, the Blizzard of '77.

Casey has a swell Web site, is an involved citizen, and even leads off his Internet home page with a nifty Thomas Jefferson quote, "The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest."

And he has as much chance to uproot Volker as an electric line against a falling 500-pound tree branch.

Exactly 23 days prior to his race, I have seen exactly one campaign sign, no mailed literature and no television, radio or print advertisements. And he's in my legislative district.

Which brings us to the news last week that the Brennan Center, authors of the now famous 2004 report (which, make no misunderstanding, was kind in its announcement of the study, which labeled the Legislature dysfunctional - disconnected, disgusting and disgraceful also come to immediate mind), decided to take a peek to see how that whole Albany reform thing has been working out.

To the shock of only the 212 within Albany's legislative chambers and a few assorted bodies and underlings in the governor's mansion, the nonpartisan think tank found that the cozy group's reform efforts are "still plagued with endemic problems."

It came out about the same time that the Washington, D.C. group Center for Public Integrity noted that New York has 3,842 lobbyists, or 18 for every one of our elected state lawmakers. Florida was No. 2 with a distant ratio of 13-to-1. In all, state capital lobbyists - the equivalent of Albany's private ATM for senators and assemblymen alike - spent $144 million to buy political favors. California, with almost twice the population, spent $212 million. At third on the list, New York is more than a whopping $90 million more than the fourth place state in ranking how much cumulative ammo all the hired guns can spread around.

Said Volker of the latest findings, under the guise of it being more favorable to New York City, that the report was "an attempt to bludgeon people into doing things," according to the Buffalo News. Spoken like a man who is feeling all the re-election heat of an ice cube manufacturer. In the other house, Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, whose lining gets most ripped when reform inches ahead, labeled the information "deeply flawed."

Truth be told, Albany's so-called recent reforms have so far been the equivalent of cheap mascara - cosmetic only. And even those came only after lawmakers were collectively bludgeoned the first time around in 2004.

Undoubtedly, Tom Casey and all his anonymous, underfunded and almost wholly unknown candidate colleagues would embrace such a report as a blueprint for obvious change. Too bad we'll never get the chance to find out.

(Brian Ackley is a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York. For more information or to provide feedback on this column, visit www.wnynewspapers.com. Opinions are those of the author.)