Score (196)

I am so thankfgul that Eliot Spitzer won. I, my family, and my friends all worked very hard in our "area of influence" educating those around us on the great work done by the wonderful person who is Mr. Spitzer. He has personally always been one of my favorite persons for his humanity. I hope is that he does not forget human services such as pregnancy prevetion initiatives, fathers programs and afterschool education. I have great hope for the future of this State and my Bronx community. Thank you. Abraham Jones
- Submitted by Abraham Jones on 11.09.06

Score (196)

I would like to suggest that state employees be involved in helping with ideas to improve operational efficiency, minimize waste, etc.. with State government operations. Seeking the input of the actual people who do the work everyday could provide a wealth of knowledge.
- Submitted by Charles Siewert on 11.09.06

Score (68)

There is no mystery as to why jobs leave NY and why very few new jobs come to NY.
The biggest single reason is
TAXES! The second biggest is the size and cost of running our State and local governments!
1. Cut the size of our government! When you have more people working for governments than you have for business and industry, you have a real problem! I have yet to see a state or local government agency that didn't have more people than required to do the job! In the business world companies have to increase productivity to be successful. Government agencies don't even seem to know the meaning of productivity! I personally know of a young person who went to work for a government office. After several weeks after learning the job this person was told by the supervisor to stop working so fast as it was making everyone else look bad! The person quit in disgust!

Score (188)

Now that Mr. Spitzer has become the governor of NY, what does he propose to do about the Parole Commissioners, getting them to follow 259-i Laws and N.Y.C.R.R Discretionary Release Guidelines 8002.3(b)
1-2-3? Making sure that the Parole Board is not re-sentencing prisoners to crimes they did not commit, or to crimes the original sentencing courts never handed down in the prisoners commitment papers?
The Parole Board is a mess since Pataki was elected, every one knows how one of Pataki's commissioners would take money from prisoners family for Pataki's campaigne, that happened in the late 90's, and a prisoner was released.

Score (154)

Congratulations on becoming Governor!!! Data has indicated that for every dollar spent on tourism-related advertising for New York, the return on investment in the form of touist spending is $6-7 or more (That's $6-7 dollars earned for every $1 spent - find another state agency or program that can do that!). Money spent by the state government to fund tourism promotion programs actually earns money for the state, unlike most other state-funded programs and agency. And yet, there has been a steady downtrend in funding for tourism promotion. I can't fathom why New York would underfund and further cut funding for something that directly benefits stakeholders at many levels - the business people and their employees who serve tourists, the local governments which reap taxes from food, lodging, entertainment and shopping experiences, and state government which also benefits from those associated taxes. New York lags far behind adjacent states, such as Pennsylvania, in its funding of tourism promotion at the local, regional and state level, which it should show its appreciation for the revenue brought in by tourism and fund tourism promotion at a much higher level. It can only mean more money for the state's coffers.

Score (122)

Make greater use of true performance-based contracting when awarding public funds to local governments and not-for-profit agencies. This practice is routine in some state agencies and municipal governments and rarely utilized in others, sometimes resulting in reimbursement for projects that fail to meet reasonable expectations.
There are practical and political implications to consider. For example, municipalities may be reluctant to accept program funds that require hiring new staff if there is a risk they will receive less than full reimbursement. And cash strapped community organizations that carry out much of the state's agenda will likely exert political pressure on their benefactors when expected revenues are not forthcoming.

Score (2)

Currently there are 28 campuses with 28 different chiefs, deputy chiefs, assistant chiefs, car designs, firearms, reporting programs etc. In essence, there are 28 different ways of doing the same thing for the same agency. It’s wasteful and expensive. By centralizing the University Police Department (the 2nd largest State Police force) under the Executive branch, we can eliminate unneeded middle managers, reduce spending and duplication of effort on items purchased by 28 different departments and would make the department more efficient at reducing crime on campus. A regional set up such as the Environmental Conservation Police have, would be a better approach and would streamline training, hiring, and procurement. I believe this would result in a substantial saving to the taxpayers of this State as well as safer campuses statewide.

Score (182)

Please see recent New York Public Interest Group recommendations for making Albany a dynamic capitol city, where the best people want to work and NYS citizens wish to participate in governance. A free and dynamic media is neccessary so, as first order of business Governor should create a Press Office. Another initial Exeuctive Order would be to mandate that as in Wash., D.C., the most important hearings and votes be covered by CNN, C-Span, etc. so as to inform the citizenry on how decisions made in Albany affect them, and to enable them to form opinions about the choices.
 - Submitted by Debra A.

Score (170)

I am building a passive solar home that is heated directly by the sun in the Cooperstown, NY area of Baseball Hall of Fame renown. By the time the home is built, the world will have fully come to grips with the disturbing awareness that high energy prices are here to stay and may even go higher. People will be seriously looking for home energy solutions. This new home’s projected energy costs are about four hundred dollars a year for supplementary heat and four hundred dollars a year for electric. NYS should not only provide incentives to build these homes to conserve energy and reduce oil consumption, but NYS should also support the creation of a model solar moderate income solar development which contains 1000 sq. ft homes that are estimated to cost a modest one hundred fifty thousand dollars each. The incentives NYS provides for passive solar homes coupled with the model solar development will provide a blueprint for America’s energy conservation goals.

Score (174)

Nnew York's courts are the most complex and backlogged in the country. There is no reason (other than to give political leaders as many ways as possible to hold judicial selection hostage) that we need 11 separate trial courts. We should heed Judge Kaye's urging to merge the trial courts, rationalize judicial selection (i.e. merit selection) to ensure that only qualified people take the bench, and create new judicial departments to erase appellate backlogs. We also should give the Judiciary more control over court procedure (just as the U.S. Judicial Conference judiciary and many state high courts have) to finally stop entangling our Judiciary so directly in the legislative politics of deciding those important issues. Without a court system that's fast and efficient, many of the other reforms to politics and business climate can't take root.

Score (159)

I would like to see a law that would forbid anyone offering a "free trial period" from requesting any financial info until the end of that trial period. For example: AOL would like me to sign up for their 30 day free trial. In order for me to take advantage of the offer, I am required to submit my credit card or bank info BEFORE the trial. Some companies make it very hard to cancel this before the trial perion ends. They give you six hoops to jump thru to get out and only one to get in. If you should forget, It's on your card even if you decide you don't want it, you still pay for that month.
I feel that anyone offering a "Free Trial" should be forbidden from asking for the money (or ANY financial info) until the period is over.

Score (153)

It seems to me that there would be no faster way to stimulate economic development in upstate New York, as well as Long Island and New York City than to ensure universal health care for all New York State residents. Just think how many businesses would be attracted to New York State knowing the savings those businesses would have in one of their most expensive costs of doing business: health care for their employees. Just think how many businesses already here would have an instant infusion of capital to reinvest their employee health care costs into their own companies' expansion, research and development efforts.