Without changing in any way the manner of representation now afforded to the citizens of New York, and without having any effect whatoever upon the way in which bills become law in this state, we can save the taxpayers many millions of dollars by replacing the each of the two legislative bodies with a single person.
Affording appropriate honor to previous state legislative history, the two new state government positions would be officially known respectively as "The Bruno of the Senate" and "The Silver of the Assembly", and each would excercise by law the full powers of the legislative body they replace, exactly as they do now. The election of State Senators and Assembly Members would proceed exactly as it has in the past, except that the roles of the elected individuals would be reduced to the duties of "electors" (similar to the functions of the Electoral College) and, except for pay and expenses for a few days to elect the Silver and the Bruno, these electors would be free from further duties and could return to their homes and honest occupations, rather than remaining in Albany as paid spectators.
The savings for salaries and perks alone would be in the millions, and the vacant office space could be sold to help pay off state debt and reduce taxes. Legislative staff would be reduced to a minimum, and there would be a great benefit to the ecology because thousands of trees would be saved from being consumed by the mountains of press releases that now emanate from the otherwise emasculated so-called legislators who do little else under the present system.
Please consider this suggestion, at least as a first step in devising a new Constitution for more-efficient and less-costly state government -- or at least for publicizing how the present system actually functions.
© 1998Respectfully submitted,
Bruce A. Martin