Saturday, June 13, 2009

New York Does Not Have a Recall System - What Can We Do?

So a lot of my neighbors and fellow 33rd District constituents have been wondering how we can abbreviate Pedro Espada's time as our state senator. He doesn't seem to live here, has no office here, is only concerned about his own power, and betrayed everyone who voted for a Democratic Senate.

Impeachment is only for the executive branch and doesn't originate with the electorate. Our only option would be a recall election, but New York State's Constitution does not provide such an option to its voters.

Unfortunately only 18 U.S. states allow for a recall election (NOT New York) in which the electorate can recall a representative or elected official that they feel is not doing his or her job - the most famous recent example being in 2003 when Gray Davis was recalled and the Terminator was elected as California's governor.

What are we to do here in the 33rd? Any Poli Sci majors want to hit the books and see what options we have? I believe that a state senator can be "expelled" from the senate by his fellow senators, but with the state of Albany right now I wouldn't hold my breath.

Do we really need to wait until November of 2010 to vote this guy out?

~ErLu

13 comments:

John Martin said...

Maybe he'll be behind bars by then, but that's a big "maybe."

Anonymous said...

Recalling him, if there is no recall process, will be futile. Why not try to find out why the DA and the AG can't figure out how to prove that he doesn't live in the Bronx? If the press can come to the Bronx, why can't they? There are neighbors to talk to, and security cameras to look at. If the neighbors and the cameras haven't seen him, how does he get to his apartment? Chimney? And where does he park his expensive car? Not in the building's garage.

Boogiedowner said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Boogiedowner said...

BoogieDowner was curious that a poorly worded and anonymous "petition" was left in our building's lobby advocating for an impeachment or a recall of Senator Espada. After doing some resreach the ole BD discovered we have no right of recall in our good state of New York.

It seems the author of said petition was both scared to assign his/her name to the document and also rather ignornant of the state's rules (or lack thereof) for such actions. A little research before posting a petition would be nice.

Sadly, it looks like we're stuck with this miserable miscreat unless he gets convicted of one of the panoly of crimes for which he is being investigated. We in the 33rd district need to start grooming a true Democrat to defeat Mr. Espada in November of 2010.

Let the search begin.

DavidNYC said...

Presumably you mean September 2010, right? That is to say, the primary, rather than the general. The 33rd district is extremely one-sided (PDF) - there are 115K registered Democrats in the 33rd and just 9K Republicans. So the primary is the only action.

Slappy said...

Be careful what you wish for with a recall system, I live in California and the recall of Governor Davis certainly worked out swell (end sarcasm)

Anonymous said...

Let's not stop with the 33rd. They should all be made to stand in a special election. If the people feel their senator is worthy of keeping their position, then so be it. The others can find new employment and stop ripping off the tax payers. This would cost the state a fortune, but so does the current disfunction that is so apparent in the senate (and probably the assembly, as well).

Anonymous said...

At this point I think it is clear, we need to throw the whole bunch out. Notice that they are sure the Governor does not have the right to withhold their paychecks, even if they don't meet, while the Senate is "in session".

Anonymous said...

Being absolutely certain that a vast majority of New York citizens are appalled at the situation in Albany, with the strikingly selfish, self-centered and, in many cases, corrupt elected officials bring our state to its’ knees, would it not be a wonderful idea for the good citizens of our state to sign a petition to allow a vote to change the State Constitution to allow Recall Voting of our legislative leader (pun intended) on the next election cycle. Just the concept of giving back to the citizens the right to remove non –representative legislators from their respective seats, before they morph back to their “for their constituents” clown face during the normal election cycle, would most likely bring chills down their respective spines. Hey, it worked in California.

Anonymous said...

Who would have ever thought that I would be happy to live in a corrupt state like New Jersey when we compare it to the Senate of the State of New York. I agree with the previous writer. Order a special election for ALL the senators when they do not show up this evening.

Anonymous said...

Hey All,

I'm not part of the 33rd. I was searching about recall options on my own member and found the bad news.
They all think will will forget by the next election, they may even be right. That worries me.
There is another option. The people can petition for a constitution convention prior to the next scheduled one. I would say that 2 things to fix right away are. A Lt. Gov. needs to be appointed when the office becomes vacant. A recall option for failure to perform the required duties of office per the peoples opinion also is needed. Just my thoughts. My read is there is a way to petition for a convention ahead of the next scheduled one.

Anonymous said...

After Mr Espada's recent interview with Capital Tonight on Capital News 9 in Albany, I was struck by his absolute and complete arrogance. He does not care if he is liked. He is a crook because he owes back taxes. That in itself should be enough to throw him out of office. I am ready for a Constitutional Convention. They all need to go from the Gov on down. They still think that we are stupid. Well they are going to find out differently come election day, or sooner. We just need to keep all of this fresh in the voters minds for the next year. This goes for the Feds also. I write them almost everyday, both State and Fed reps. I always end my letter with "Remember you work for us, we do not work for you."

Carol

Nicholas Byrd said...

I started a petition for my Home State of North Carolina, and yes, they do work with enough signatures. To be honest my goal is to see recall elections allowed in all 50 states.

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-governor-of-nc-allow-recall-elections