PEF, editorials call for override of Contract Disclosure Bill veto
By SHERRY HALBROOK
PEF and at least two Capital District newspapers are calling for state lawmakers to override the governor’s October veto of the Contract Disclosure Bill.
The union has launched an all-out ad and lobbying campaign urging the override.
In vetoing bill A.6542/S.1920, the governor ignored the wishes of both houses of the state Legislature, which unanimously supported the opportunity to give New Yorkers a clear view of how many contract employees work for the state and how much they cost taxpayers.
The veto also came in the face of a vigorous Go Public lobbying campaign by PEF and news editorials in support of the legislation, which was one of four “Accountability Bills” championed by the union in 2005.
The governor excused his veto by claiming it would be too much trouble for the state to comply with the bill’s reporting requirements.
“The governor’s veto sends a clear message that his administration doesn’t really believe in reforming New York state government,” said PEF President Roger Benson.
Editorials call for override
The two largest Capital District newspapers reacted to the veto with editorials calling on the governor to prove that substituting private contractors for state workers really saves tax dollars, and urging the state Legislature to override the Disclosure Bill veto.
“The Legislature should continue to demand answers and should pass a disclosure law over Mr. Pataki’s veto,” stated an editorial which appeared in the October 25 issue of the Times Union in Albany.
“...unless the Legislature overrides this misguided veto, taxpayers will never know the truth,” was the message in The Daily Gazette’s October 27 editorial.
In his January 2005 State of the State address, the governor had promised to “advance a comprehensive agenda that will make this government more effective, more efficient and more accountable to the people of New York.”
That promise rang hollow in October.
“They like to talk the talk when it comes to accountability, but are unwilling to walk the walk and actually do something about it,” Benson said of the Pataki administration.
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The Contract Disclosure Bill sponsored by state Sen. Joseph Robach and Assembly Member Donna Lupardo would have forced the state to disclose the cost and number of their contract workers.
Although the salaries of public employees are a matter of public record, Pataki claimed it would violate the privacy of private contractors to reveal how much the state pays them and might inhibit them from bidding on state projects.
“That says to me this administration wants to keep the salaries of private contractors secret,” Benson said. “Why would you keep costs secret unless there was something to hide?
“It’s a smoke screen by contractors and businesses to keep the true costs of the services they provide secret and rip-off the state’s taxpayers,” Benson continued. “There isn’t a business in New York state that would hire out work without knowing the hourly cost for the contracted service. New York’s taxpayers deserve the same accountability.”
Disappointed, not defeated
“The Legislature passed the Disclosure Bill unanimously in both houses,” Benson said. “Now, we are asking those same leaders and lawmakers to reconvene and override this veto.”
PEF waged a quarter-million-dollar advertising and lobbying campaign calling on Pataki to sign the Contract Disclosure Bill in the weeks leading up to his veto. The campaign included television ads that ran 950 times on all of the major networks across the state.
Print ads ran in The New York Times, New York Post, Daily News, Times Union, The Daily Gazette, Legislative Gazette, Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, The Post-Standard in Syracuse, The Buffalo News and Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton.
In addition to winning unanimous support in the Legislature, the Contract Disclosure Bill also was endorsed by state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Comptroller Alan Hevesi.
Keeping up the pressure
PEF has already achieved one Go Public victory.
In August, the governor signed a PEF Accountability bill into law that requires lobbyists to report more about their efforts to influence the award of state contracts.
The other two original Accountability bills — requiring cost-benefit analysis before state services are contracted out, and making public authorities and shadow agencies more accountable — did not make it through both houses of the Legislature before it recessed for the summer.
However, the Legislature and governor did agree on a watered-down version of the PEF-supported bill on public authorities, and it passed both houses.
PEF will be working hard for enactment of the remaining bills, as well as the vetoed legislation when the 2006 Legislative Session opens in January.
“We always knew this would be an uphill battle,” Benson said, “but we also know that we can and will win it one bill at a time. The editorials prove our campaign has significantly raised the public’s awareness that New Yorkers need and deserve more accountability from their government.
“PEF won’t stop fighting until we achieve it.”
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Communicator Dec 05-Jan06//
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