ALBANY — Assembly Republicans yesterday proposed changing the state Constitution to let the public vote out elected officials caught up in corruption scandals.
It’s their answer to Albany’s culture of corruption in the wake of this month’s federal bribery busts of two state lawmakers — and a poll showing more than four in five voters expect more arrests.
The proposal, if passed by two separately elected sessions of the Legislature and ratified statewide by voters, would make New York the 20th state to give voters the right to petition for a recall vote of elected officials before the end of their term.
“If you don’t do your job or are irresponsible in your job, you lose your job. Why shouldn’t we hold our elected representatives to the same standard?” said Assemblyman James Tedisco (R-Schenectady), the proposal’s author. “We’ve tried the approach of having the Legislature police itself and we’ve gotten the Keystone Kops.”
Insiders give the plan from the Assembly’s GOP minority little chance.