A referendum to give initiative rights to the citizens of the state of New York?

Yes, New York’s state senate has passed an initiative and referendum bill. Now it’s up to the Assembly to echo it. And then, boom, it’ll go onto the ballot.

If this proposal reaches the ballot, I’m pretty certain that it would win in a walk. New Yorkers know they need a voters’ veto to the politicians.

But there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip, and right now we’re in that between-cup-and-lip stage. It seems unlikely that the New York assemblymen will merrily echo what the New York senators have just done. And frankly, I suspect the wheelers and dealers in the state senate, like Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, are counting on that.

The senators are making the motions of responding to widespread public disgust with entrenched political corruption. But that’s just what they are. Motions. Not expressions of conviction.

There has also been some mumbling in this legislature about term limits. Perhaps committee chairmanships will be limited, though I wouldn’t bet the ranch. Will lawmakers go all the way and cap their basic tenures? Unlikely. That’s one reason New Yorkers need the right of initiative and referendum. So they can impose term limits directly.

If you live in New York, tell your assemblyman that no matter how cynical your senator may be, you want the right of citizen initiative.

Prove the politicians wrong. Hey, prove me wrong.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.