"Not So Well," According To Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch
Long Island Legislators fail to live up to pledge
This may not surprise you (it certainly came as no surprise to us), but many of those same State Legislators who hail from Long Island -- signers all of Ed Koch's New York Uprising Pledge to reform redistricting -- have now reneged on their promise.
And here you thought their word was their bond. Well, it was, until the election was over.
We can go on and on about promises unkept and pledges broken, but why not let Mayor Koch tell it like it is. The sad tale of, "41 Dishonorable Legislators."
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As you know, there are some lawmakers who, despite signing written pledges last year, are now standing in the way of redistricting reform. 41 of them, to be exact, including nearly the entire Republican conference in the Senate.
Make no mistake, this betrayal of the public trust can only be described one way: Dishonorable.
This week, thanks to your support, we were able to push back. Your generous contributions allowed us to send 100,000 automated "robo-calls" into the districts of lawmakers who reneged, so I could inform voters that their Senator or Assemblymember is breaking their promise, and holding up reform.
Click here to hear one of the calls yourself - this is the one to voters in Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos' district.
And the impact of the calls is snowballing. Media around the state - in Rochester, Westchester, Buffalo, Utica, Hudson Valley, Albany, Auburn, Long Island, Watertown, and more - is covering the pledge-breakers, and scorning them in editorials. Not to mention all the other groups that have put the new "Enemies" on notice - from ReShapeNY, whose members are holding forums in districts around the state, to the New Roosevelt Initiative, which just announced a rally in Senator Greg Ball's district.
At least one legislator got the message right away: The day after the robo-calls began, Sean Hanna, Assemblyman from Rochester, announced that he had just become a co-sponsor of the redistricting bill. I halted the calls to his district immediately, and congratulated him; we hold no grudges.
Below, you'll find a list of the 41 legislators who signed our pledges, and have so far reneged. They deserve the scorn of their constituents and - and all New Yorkers - for dishonorably breaking their word.
Sincerely,
Ed Koch
Founder, New York Uprising
These are the 41 lawmakers named "Enemies of Reform" this week, for reneging on their pledges. Please use the links to call or write them, and demand that they keep their word on redistricting.
ASSEMBLY
Al Graf, AD 5
Joseph Saladino, AD 12
Michael Montesano, AD 15
Thomas McKevitt, AD 17
David McDonough, AD 19
Edward Ra, AD 21
Bill Scarborough, AD 29
Ken Blankenbush, AD 122
Christopher Friend, AD 137
Andrew Goodell, AD 150
SENATE
Ken LaValle, SD 1
John Flanagan, SD 2
Lee Zeldin, SD 3
Owen Johnson, SD 4
Carl Marcellino, SD 5
Kemp Hannon, SD 6
Jack Martins, SD 7
Chuck Fuschillo, SD 8
Dean Skelos, SD 9
Marty Golden, SD 22
Andrew Lanza, SD 24
Bill Larkin, SD 39
Greg Ball, SD 40
Stephen Saland, SD 41
Roy McDonald, SD 43
Hugh Farley, SD 44
Betty Little, SD 45
Joe Griffo, SD 47
Patty Ritchie, SD 48
John DeFrancisco, SD 50
James Seward, SD 51
Tom Libous, SD 52
Tom O'Mara, SD 53
Michael Nozzolio, SD 54
James Alesi, SD 55
Joe Robach, SD 56
Cathy Young, SD 57
Patrick Gallivan, SD 59
Mark Grisanti, SD 60
Michael Ranzenhofer, SD 61
George Maziarz, SD 62
After hearing about the NY Uprising revolt, I contacted my State Senator (Fuscillo) and my NYS Assemblyman (McDonough)to remonstrate over their change of heart. The Senator informed me that after they signed the pledge they found Mayor Koch's "independent" committe would consist of 6 democrats and 2 republicans. That was the deal breaker for the republicans and I can understand that.
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