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This summer State Assemblyman Roger Green resigned from his seat in order to avoid official censure after admitting to stealing from the state and submitting fake travel vouchers. But just a few hours later, the Brooklyn politician announced that he would seek reelection -- an election he is all but certain to win.
How can he act so brazenly? One reason may be that he has lots of company.
Bronx State Senator Guy Velella pled guilty to bribery and is serving a year in jail. (Read articles about the campaign for Velella’s and Green’s open seats.)Bronx Assemblywoman Gloria Davis resigned from her seat after admitting to taking money in return for votes. Another legislator, Adam Clayton Powell IV, has been the subject of criminal investigation after two women accused him of separate incidents of rape. Even Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been subpoenaed as part of an investigation into the Caesars Entertainment casino company, which, according to the New York Times, "is trying to break into the gambling market in New York," and which gave Silver and his wife a luxury suite in a Las Vegas hotel at a steep discount.
Although the state has missed its budget deadline for the 20th year in a row, major legislation has stalled, and there is no plan to fund city schools adequately, nevertheless most of the 212 legislators who are running for reelection this fall have no reason to worry about losing their jobs.
No matter what the New York State Legislature does, or what it does not do, there are no consequences for the body as a whole or for individual lawmakers.
"The problems with New York's State Legislature are so entrenched, so embedded in the structure and tradition of Albany," the New York Times wrote, "that most New Yorkers believe nothing can ever change."
This spring, a group of politicians from the African country of Ghana visited Albany hoping to see democracy in action. Instead they were baffled: no budget had been approved, lobbyists ruled the capitol building, no one seemed to know exactly how money was being spent, and individual legislators had little influence over real decisions.
"We find this a little bit strange," Moses Asaga, a member of the Ghana parliament told the New York Times. "We expected more debate, more opinions.''
But Albany’s dysfunction is not just a quirky embarrassment; it affects the lives of every New Yorker.
Because the state was late in passing its budget for the 20th year in a row
The state legislature has also failed to come up with a plan to fund a basic education for New York City students, even though a state Court of Appeals required them to do so.
And, as in past years, major legislation stalled.
Lawmakers failed to come up with a plan for upgrading its century old voting machines and so has missed out on $150 million in federal funding to pay for it.
For five years in a row, there has been no vote on whether to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour.
And although most legislators in Albany agree that the Rockefeller drug laws - some of the harshest laws in the nation – need to be reformed, they cannot agree to a deal. More than 30 years after the Rockefeller drug laws were passed, nothing has changed.
Although there are 212 legislators in Albany, three men - Governor George Pataki, Republican State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, and Democrat Speaker of the Assembly Sheldon Silver - hold all of the power.
They set the legislative budget. They hire all of the staff, including those who draft most bills. The leaders also dole out committee chair and membership assignments, assign offices and run all the services the members rely on, from publications to payroll.
If a member writes a bill, the leader then decides which committee it goes to, whether it gets passed out of the committee, and whether it moves on the house’s calendar. The leader in each house can stop a bill at nearly any point in the process.
That only a few men dominate the legislative body is no accident: the members have been happy to have it this way.
The most important goal for a legislator is to get re-elected; the second most important goal is to maintain the majority in each house. A strong leader can keep individuals and the party in line and on message, and by wielding his power, help the other legislators remain in power.
The average state legislator can expect to stay in office for the rest of their lives if they go along with the system.
The trade-off is that once such power is bestowed, no single legislator or group of legislators can buck it. If someone fights the system, they can run the risk of being punished or ousted.
It works for those in office. It’s just not how democracy was envisioned.
Over the years, the methods of operating in Albany have become counterproductive.
The leadership in each house prefers to kill the other side’s bill rather than move its own. Each house seems to believe that if the other majority wants a bill, even if it has good aspects, the bill should not be adopted unless that house is willing to give something in return that it does not want to give.
A frequently cited example is the bill the State Legislature long considered that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation - often called the gay civil rights bill. It was passed by the Assembly and even had the support of Governor Pataki. But it did not pass the Senate until 30 years after it was first introduced.
One reason for the gridlock is the division of power.
Republicans have controlled the Senate since 1966; Democrats have controlled the Assembly since 1975. Much of the time, the parties would rather point a finger at their rivals than cooperate.
Another factor is the upstate-downstate divide in the Legislature, with the Democratic Assembly more focused on New York City issues and the Republican Senate favoring suburban and rural interests. Currently, the Republican majority does not need the vote of a single New York City senator to pass legislation in its house.
Exacerbating the situation is that Pataki, Silver, and Bruno do not get along personally. When an entire institution depends on whether three men can put aside their differences and compromise, the doable becomes impossible. Pataki, Bruno, and Silver often become more interested in inflicting political punishment on one another than getting things done.
The Senate Majority Leader and Assembly Speaker also control the money, which helps maintain the status quo.
Each leader uses his majority party’s campaign war chest as he sees fit, often shoring up the most vulnerable members, but doling out funds to maintain power and enforce loyalty.
After Republican Bronx State Senator Guy Velella was indicted for bribery, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and 19 other Republicans donated $150,000 from their campaign funds to help pay his legal bills. A spokesman for Bruno called the act "an individual outpouring of support."
Should someone have the temerity to challenge an incumbent, the challenger is almost always at an enormous economic disadvantage. New York’s campaign financing contribution limits are far more lax than the limits imposed in presidential campaigns, and there are enough loopholes to drive a fortune through.
Those who challenge the leadership better be able to pull off the coup, or suffer the consequences.
Four years ago, Assemblymember Michael Bragman tried to unseat Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver from his position, arguing that Silver had a stranglehold on the legislative body and change was needed. The speaker quickly stripped Bragman of his position as majority leader and demoted two of his allies. Other members of the legislature were reportedly threatened with challengers in the next election if they did not support their leader.
Silver eventually won reelection to the post with only Bragman voting against the speaker. The other 94 Assembly members stayed loyal to their leader.
Bragman went from being one of the most powerful people in Albany to an insignificant outcast. He resigned from the State Legislature in December 2001.
Legislators also draw huge advantages simply from being incumbents.
In their daily routines, they make themselves visible in their districts, have the opportunity to perform constituent service through their government-funded legislative offices, and receive free, unchallenged public relations.
While these are appropriate activities for legislators, they provide great name recognition in elections, and name recognition is what counts.
It is no wonder that polls consistently show New Yorkers are dissatisfied with the Legislature but pleased with their representative (though few New Yorkers can name their Senator or Assembly Member). The voters do not seem concerned with this apparent disconnect, and repeatedly re-elect the same crew.
That is why Brooklyn Assemblymember Roger Green is running again and, with no strong opponent, is expected to win.
"We're supporting Roger Green 1,000 percent and he will get re-elected, period," Assemblyman Clarence Norman, the chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party has said. "I've been talking with civic leaders and union leaders around Brooklyn and he will be back in Albany come January. No question about it."
New York’s legislative districts are drawn to favor the majority party and to assure that each majority incumbent gets reelected. The New York Public Interest Research Group has made fun of the bizarre shapes that can result, creating awards for districts that it has given names like "Oops I Spilled My Coffee on the Map," "Bug Squashed on a Windshield," and "Abe Lincoln Riding a Vacuum Cleaner."
The reason is that after every census, the Legislature has the authority to draw new district lines. And while the districts must be equal in population, the Supreme Court has said repeatedly that there is no prohibition against drawing districts solely for political benefit.
The legislature’s redistricting task force is armed with detailed data on population and voting characteristics that allows them to tailor a district to an incumbent’s needs with block-by-block precision.
If voters don’t like what the legislature is doing, the reasoning goes, voters can throw them out. But given how difficult it is to beat an incumbent in New York, the public is left with few other options.
There is no way of placing legislative proposals or constitutional amendments on the ballot without legislative approval, nor can voters petition to recall a legislator for poor performance or criminal activity. Legal challenges to legislative actions invariably fail, as courts have consistently ruled that the Legislature, as a separate branch of government, is entitled to great deference.
In addition, there are no term limits in state government, nor are there limits on the length of time a legislator can serve as leader.
While many observers would argue that these so-called "cures" are worse than the disease, pointing to the use of ballot initiatives in California as a prime example, the fact remains that an entrenched legislature, facing no risk to either its actions or its members, has become a prescription for inertia in New York.
The only chance to make systemic change comes every 20 years, as the New York constitution requires that the voters be asked whether they want a constitutional convention.
If the voters approve a constitutional convention, the voters would then elect delegates who can reform the state constitution, establish term limits, or overhaul the redistricting process.
In 1997, the voters decisively voted against holding a convention. The next opportunity is not until 2017.
Learn More:
Blame Albany
How Albany Controls New York City
Will Albany Scandals Lead to Reform?
Albany Rules?
Upstate Downstate Debate
Eye on Albany Campaign 2004
Roger Green (Democrat)
Susan Metz (Green)
Ric Ocasio (Republican)
CAMPAIGN FEATURE:
American politicians have won election while serving time in jail, facing criminal charges or even after dying. But Roger Green may be the first who ever won an election after a probation officer's report described him as "having limited mental capacity or ...being dishonest."
Green, a member of the New York State Assembly from Brooklyn, resigned his post in June after pleading guilty to three counts arising from charges that he took free rides from a state contractor and then got reimbursed by the state for the supposed cost of the trips. Green received three years probation and had to pay $5,000. The probation officer's report was intended to guide sentencing in the case.
But Green faces little competition in his bid to recapture the seat from Fort Greene and Prospect Heights that he held for 21 years. As the deadline passed for filing for the Democratic primary, Green had challenges from two little known Democrats: Tammy Meadows of Prospect Heights and Guillermo Filpotts. A Republican, Ric Ocasio, and a member of the Green Party, Susan Metz, had also declared their candidacy.
The arena for the Brooklyn Nets at Flatbush and Atlantic avenues and the accompanying development appear to be the most heated issues in the area. Meadows is backed by an organization called Community Leadership for Accountable Politics that supports the development plan, according to Erik Engquist, who writes the Brooklyn Politics column for Courier-Life newspapers. Green also supports the arena but has taken a low profile on it and, said City Councilmember Letitia James, backs some conditions on the development plan.
Metz's platform opposes the Forest City Ratner plan for the arena and surrounding area. She also is against other development plans, including housing towers or box stores and objects to taxpayer funding for private developers. But like Green, she supports funding for education and other social programs.
Another issue could have been Green's record and the recent charges against him. Along with the court action, the Assembly ethics committee investigated Green. It concluded that the Brooklyn Democrat had to resign or face what committee chair Mark Weprin has called "serious" sanctions. And so Green resigned - for a little while.
But many prominent politicians in the area chose to sit the race out
Green's hiatus from the state house seems barely noticed. Although the Assembly web site mentions that he resigned in June, recorded phone messages at both his Albany and Brooklyn office advise callers they have reached the office of Assemblyman Roger Green. (Green could not be contacted for an interview.)
And Green's absence has not cost him the backing of influential supporters, including Brooklyn Democratic Party chief Clarence Norman, who is also a member of the state Assembly and under indictment. "We're supporting Roger Green 1,000 percent and he will get re-elected, period," Norman told the New York Times.
The major rivals whose names popped up in political columns in the past months have faded away. Those not running in the 57th include lawyer Hakeem Jeffries, who had mounted spirited challenges to Green in the past; Eric Adams of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care; and Robin Brown, president of the United Parents Association of New York City.
Daniel McCalla, who had considered a run to challenge Green's support of the Nets arena, said he was not able to get enough signatures in time for the July 15 filing deadline for the Democratic primary -- particularly since, he said, he figured the Democratic organization would challenge any signatures he did get. McCalla says he hopes to work for the election of Green Party candidate Metz in November.
The Working Families Party decided not to back Green's election, but also will not back any opponents to him, choosing to stay out of the 57th District race entirely.
In past elections, Green won support from a number of organizations, including Citizens Union, which praised his efforts to improve housing and education in his district. He has been active in the campaign to increase funding for New York City schools.
City Councilmember Letitia James, who used to work for Green, listed a number of things he has done for his district. He played a key role in the opening of Benjamin Banneker High School, has brought in money for efforts to combat AIDS, and won funding for programs to help high school students attend college and to promote youth entrepreneurship. He was instrumental in the founding of Medgar Evers College, she said, and is currently working to launch four new small high schools.
"When you read his biography, it's really impressive," she said. "All the good things outweigh that lapse of judgment" with the travel reimbursements.
That could explain the lack of heavyweight opposition to Green. But others offer a different explanation.
"It's a testimony to how effective Green and other long-term incumbents have been in discouraging young people from getting into politics," said Errol Louis , a Daily News columnist who has written frequently about the district. "They have planned to stay for their entire lives as if it were a tenured position. . . . This is the best example of that."
Rachel Leon, executive director of New York Common Cause, said it ultimately is "up to the voters if they want to elect him."
But she noted that the state legislature has refused to release the ethics committee report on Green, keeping from voters information they need. "If it's all on the up and up, people need that information to make an informed decision," she said.
When Green resigned, he avoided the sanctions reportedly recommended in the report, and the report remained sealed.
Journalists and good government groups have called for release of the report without success. And is it unclear whether its release could be required under the state Freedom of Information Act, according to Robert J. Freeman, executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government.
Green concedes that, in 2001 and 2002, he took rides on a van owned by Correctional Services Corp., a private company that operated halfway houses for the state. Green then submitted mileage vouchers for the trips, many of them from Albany back home to his district, even though the rides had not cost him anything. The maneuver cost the state about $100 a week, according to an estimate by the Albany Times-Union.
Another state legislator, Gloria Davis of the Bronx, earlier was convicted of accepting bribes from Correctional Services, sentenced to three months in jail and gave up her seat. The state fined the company a record $300,000 for not accurately reporting to the state Lobbying Commission on gifts and services it gave legislators. According to Newsday, the company had more than $22 million worth of state businesses in the 1990s but no longer does business with New York.
In many interviews, Green leaves little doubt that he thinks he has been pursued by the legal system at least partly because he is black. In an interview with the Challenge Group of newspapers with a largely African-American readership Green said, that, in the current climate of "celebrity prosecutions," black are easier to go after than white because "we start off all already criminalized. This case is a prime example. The media criminalized me with a picture in handcuffs. They said that I should be thrown in jail."
And Green has reportedly said, that white politicians have committed similar infractions and gotten away with them.
While conceding he made "a mistake," Green has also sought to minimize his offenses. As he pleaded guilty, Green reportedly told the court, "This was done by me because of a longstanding unwritten policy that members who live at a distance receive travel reimbursement whether expenses were actually incurred or not."
In his attacks on the culture of state government Green may have an unlikely ally in Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne. "My reaction is that they (the legislature) should stop assuming their membership is honest," he was quoted as saying.
7/16/04
CAMPAIGN UPDATE:
Roger Green appears ever closer to regaining the Assembly seat he resigned from in June. He now faces no opposition in the Democratic primary. And the Board of Elections removed Green Party candidate Susan Metz from the general election ballot on the grounds that she had not filed a required form with the Board of Elections by the deadline. Metz unsuccessfully challenged challenged the decision, saying that she filed several hundred more signatures than the 1,200 needed. In a statement on her web site, she said she plans to continue to fight. For now, though, she is off the ballot, leaving only Republican Ric Ocasio to face Green in the overwhelmingly Democratic district.
And Green got additional help from his past and probably future colleagues in the Assembly who continue to refuse to release a copy of an ethics committee report on the filing of false travel expenses that led him to step down. The Assembly denied a Freedom of Information request from the New York Times to make the report public.
CANDIDATE BIOGRAPHIES:
Roger Green (Democrat): A former teacher and the founder of Vanguard Urban Improvement, Roger Green won election to the Assembly in 1981. He served as chair of the Black and Hispanic Caucus and of the assembly Committee on Children and Families. Green resigned in June after pleading guilty to petty larceny charges.
Susan Metz (Green): A community activist and former teacher, she is running on a platform opposing construction of a basketball arena for the Nets in downtown Brooklyn.
Ric Ocasio (Republican): He ran against Green in 2002, winning 4 percent of the vote.
09/22/04
A teacher from Brooklyn is mounting a write-in campaign for the Assembly against Roger Green, a veteran of the Legislature who is seeking re-election after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor and resigning earlier this year. The challenger,
Susan Metz of Prospect Heights, submitted petitions to run as a Green Party candidate, but earlier this month the Board of Elections denied her a place on the ballot for technical reasons. Ms. Metz is due to announce today that she will run as a write-in
candidate rather than drop out of the race. The only other candidate on the ballot is a Republican, Ricardo Ocasio, who lost to Mr. Green in 2002 by a vote of 700 to 18,023. Write-in candidates rarely win elections, but Ms. Metz wants to give voters
of the 57th Assembly District another choice on November 2. (NY Sun)
09/07/04Roger Green’s resignation from the State Assembly appears to have had little effect on him. He has no opponents in the Democratic [primary, could make as much as $92,000 when – as it now appears likely – her returns to the state legislature in January and he even managed to collect state pay this summer. To some, the Green story seems to epitomize much that is wrong in Albany. “We have lost our ability to blush,” Republican Assemblymember Thomas Kirwan of Orange County said. "As (former U.S. Sen.) Phil Gramm said, as long as you don't get caught in bed with a dead woman or a live boy, you'll get re-elected. I guess we could test the limits of that, too." (Associated Press)
08/30/04Opponents of the proposed Nets arena are now seemingly without a candidate to oppose arena supporter Roger Green for the State Assembly. Opponents had rallied around Green Party candidate Susan Metz and collected thousands of signatures for her. But Metz reportedly left town without filing her candidate's statement of acceptance form with the Board of Elections and so did not make the ballot. Tammy Meadows reportedly withdrew her candidacy and Guillermo Filpotts failed to make the ballot as well. (Courier-Life Newspapers, reprinted by Lambda Independent Democrats)
8/22/04 With sunshine peeking through the clouds onto a crowded street festival at a Baptist church in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, Roger L. Green worked the crowd in typical campaign mode. He shook hands, slapped backs and spoke with nearly everyone along the way. But none of the voters questioned him about an issue that would normally draw intense scrutiny for a candidate seeking re-election: his resignation from the Assembly two months ago and his earlier guilty plea to charges that he billed the state for false travel expenses. In fact, his conviction will be little impediment to his returning to office, since he is running unopposed. As a New York State lawmaker running for office under a cloud of legal troubles, Mr. Green is hardly alone. (New York Times)
The State Assembly has refused to release an ethics committee report on Roger Green’s filing of false travel expenses. The Assembly rejected a Freedom of Information request from the New York Times, citing Green’s privacy and saying, in essence, it would not release the report because it did not have it. (New York Times)
7/12/04
Not Running -- Robin Brown, who had been mentioned as a possible successor to Roger Green, was appointed to the Commission to Plan for New School Funding Dollars by Council Speaker Gifford Miller and will not run for office this year.
(Courier-Life Newspapers)
6/28/04
Daniel McCalla, a 29-year-old resident of Fort Greene and music director at a Bedford-Stuyvesant church, is preparing to challenge resigned Assemblymember Roger Green in the Democratic primary. McCalla, who has virtually no money
for the campaign, will try to make the election a referendum on redevelopment plans, including the Nets arena. (Courier-Life Newspapers)
6/14/04
Roger Green told members of Lambda Independent Democrats that he would rather have not resigned, but he did so in a deal with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to prevent (or at least forestall) the release of the Assembly Ethics Committee's
report on his misconduct. Green, who is black, also said that at least two white politicians - Governor George Pataki and Borough President Marty Markowitz - had also committed similar ethics violation and not been forced from office. (Courier-Life Newspapers)
6/9/04
In an extensive interview, Roger Green says he was hounded from office by Republicans and resigned as an act of "public contrition." (Challenge Group Newspapers)
6/1/04
Green Resigns Roger Green, a member of the State Assembly from Brooklyn, resigned his seat. Green has pleaded guilty to taking free rides from a contractor then billing the state, resigned Tuesday. The Brooklyn Democrat's resignation
came after the chamber's Ethics and Guidance Committee reviewed the case. (Newsday/Associated Press)
5/24/04
Eric Adams, founders of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, said he would not run for the Assembly seat in the 57th district because he is afraid he would not meet the residency requirements. (Courier-Life Newspapers)
4/12/04
A number of possible candidates are trying to decide whether to run for the Assembly seat from the 57th District held by Roger Green. (Courier-Life Newspapers)
2/16/04
Roger Green's guilty plea to petty larceny charges ends his legal aspects of the case but raises a number of political questions. The guilty plea seems likely to derail any plans Green might have had to run for Congress and could
affect his chance of being re-elected to the Assembly seat he has held since 1981. (Courier-Life Newspapers)
Learn More:
• Albany's Dysfunction
• Blame Albany
• How Albany Controls New York City
• Will Albany Scandals Lead to Reform?
• Albany Rules?
• Upstate Downstate Debate
Eye on Albany Campaign 2004 home
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