Voting ‘Yes’ On A Constitutional Convention

This commentary originally appeared in the The Post Journal on Oct 15, 2017

From all of the press reports and lawn signs I have been seeing, I may be the only person in Chautauqua County voting in favor of having a Constitutional Convention.

The leaders of both the Democratic and Republican majorities in the state legislature are against it. The Governor is quietly opposed (or seems to be.) The public employee unions are opposed. Most of the lobbyists in Albany are opposed.

Upstate thinks it will be over-powered by downstate. Downstate worries that Upstate will try and secede from the State. Environmentalists are opposed because they think that bad things could happen. Business interests are worried that environmentalists will cause havoc and shut down industry.

In my view, the organized voice to vote “No” on having a Constitutional Convention by most of the entrenched interests in Albany… is probably a good reason to vote “Yes.” A “No” vote is essentially a vote to keep doing business the same old way. The kind of structural reforms that are needed to address the dysfunction and bad habits of state government will not be addressed by those who would be affected by them. The only way that citizens of the State can be assured that reforms will be made is by voting to amend the Constitution.

The vote coming up in November is just the beginning of a process. If approved by voters, a Constitutional Convention would be convened in 2018. Any recommended changes by such a Convention are required to be submitted to the voters in 2019 for approval. The Convention itself does not have the power to amend the Constitution.

In my view, Constitutional changes are the only way to address the governance problems in Albany. For example, do you think that the Governor would ever support limiting the terms of his/her service to 2 terms (8 years) similar to our Federal Constitution? Do you think that the Speaker of the Assembly or Majority Leader of the State Senate would ever propose limiting their tenure as leader to 10 years, as has been done in some other states?

The problems (and criminal indictments) that come from keeping the same people at the top jobs in perpetuity in Albany can only be changed if voters change the State’s Constitution.

I am not surprised that the entrenched interests in Albany want to stay “entrenched” and want you to vote “No” on the November 7th ballot.

Though it may be futile in a low turnout election as predicted for this year and defeat seems likely … I am still going to cast a “Yes” vote to have a Constitutional Convention. The only way we are going to clean up Albany is to put limits on the current power structure. Hoping that the legislature and Governor will solve this problem is not a solution. They will never vote to limit their power and authority. I know, I was there once.


Rolland Kidder

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident and former member of the New York state Assembly.

A Third Party?

This commentary originally appeared in the The Post-Journal on Oct 1, 2017

There has been more talk recently about a third political party emerging out of the chaos we see going on in Washington. A lot of people, whom I would call “common sense” Republicans and Democrats, have been talking about it. Why shouldn’t they?

For example, for some Republicans it gets tiresome to have to try and defend a plan to spend billions on a new wall along the U.S./Mexican border. They still remember President Ronald Reagan’s “tear down this Wall” speech which he made in Berlin in 1987.

On a totally different issue, many Democrats cringe when they turn on their natural gas furnace in the winter because the official “line” of their party keeps putting up obstacles to natural gas development. In places like New York State its production has essentially been banned and it is next to impossible to build a natural gas pipeline.

What is going on here is that in the Republican Party, the right wing is calling the shots on foreign policy: “Build the Wall!” On the other hand, in the Democratic Party the left wing is calling the shots on energy policy: “Ban all fossil fuels!” Most middle-of-the road Americans see things exactly the opposite. They “Oppose the wall!” and “Support natural gas!”…maybe these “middle Americans” should organize themselves into a new political party that more realistically represents their views.

"If there were such a political party, I might join it"

If there were such a political party, I might join it. The Democratic position on energy (and especially natural gas) is totally disingenuous. Natural gas is the cleanest and most cost effective way to heat a house. The new ways of drilling and completing natural gas wells are environmentally safer than the old ways, natural gas is produced domestically (not dependent on the Middle East) and the energy is needed to back up and provide firm service for the new, but interruptible, forms of energy like solar and wind. Being against natural gas? How could the Democratic Party be so wrong on such a common sense issue?

In a similar way, the Republican right-wing position on building a Mexican wall is equally as crazy. Don’t people understand that airplanes fly over walls? Afghanistan has always been one of the prime sources of opiate production. Our military now essentially controls the country. Has anyone been suggesting that we build a wall around Afghanistan to stop illegal drug exports to the U.S.? In the end, the Great Wall of China failed to keep out the Mongols, but at least it was an architectural marvel which became a tourist attraction. Building “walls” doesn’t answer anything.

So, if I am opposed to wall building as a basis for foreign policy and support natural gas development as an energy policy… maybe I should be looking for a new political party. Maybe it could be called the “Americans United Party.” It would try to solve common problems by people pulling together on the same oar. (Think of national unity during World War II.)

Of course, pragmatically, it is next to impossible to form a new political party. (Remember Ross Perot?) All the states have Boards of Elections essentially controlled by the Republican and Democratic parties. So I am not sure how it could be done. Yet, I do believe there is growing public support for a return to common sense politics which address the primary concerns of voters and are not dominated by the views of fringe groups which now drive the policies of the existing major political parties.


Rolland Kidder, 
Stow, NY