Government reform from an executive perspective.

• Author: Platkin, Richard
• Position: Symposium: Refinement or Reinvention: The State of Reform in New York

As someone who has been working in the Executive branch since 1995 for Governor George E. Pataki, (1) I intend to discuss New York State government reform from the Executive perspective.

First, I will address how we in the Executive branch undertake the process of reform. Second, I will spend some time talking about our major reform accomplishments and some of the unfinished business that lies ahead of us. Third, I will offer some observations and perspectives on reform, including some of the lessons that I have learned from my experiences serving in the Executive branch, which may offer insight for the future.

In discussing the ways in which we in the Executive branch go about achieving reform, it is most appropriate to begin by addressing our own administrative actions. Administrative actions and Executive Orders that the Governor issues pursuant to his Executive authority serve as his primary tools for reforming New York State government. Over the past several years, many of the Executive's most significant reform accomplishments were started with the Governor's own actions. Procurement lobbying, for example, has been a topic receiving a great deal of discussion over the last couple of years. The goal of reform in this area is to ensure transparency regarding which actors and entities in Albany are trying to influence the procurement process, how much they are being paid for their efforts, and where they are participating in the process. In 2003, the Governor issued an unprecedented Executive Order requiring increased public disclosure of procurement lobbying. (2) That Order ultimately became the basis for a statute that we signed into law in 2005, which expanded the Lobbying Law to include procurement lobbying. (3)

Similarly, public authorities reform is another issue that has received much attention over the past couple of years. In 2004, the Governor's Office retained Ira Milstein, (4) a preeminent expert in corporate governance, to assist in responding to the challenges facing the state's public authorities and to reform their corporate structures to be more responsive, more accountable, and more open. Through the Milstein model-governance principles that were developed, (5) the Executive administratively required public authorities to begin adhering to those standards of corporate governance. (6) Ultimately, in 2005, the Governor was successful in getting a statute enacted that actually put those model governance principles into law, (7) building upon the work that the Federal Government had done--through the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (8)--in bringing more accountability, more transparency, and more disclosure to corporate governance.

Regarding the budget process, in 2005 New York State passed an on-time budget for the first time in twenty years. (9) Most significantly, the on-time budget was also a good budget. One of the reasons that the state was able to achieve excellence and efficiency in the budget process was that the Governor called for open meetings with the legislative leaders--both majority leaders and the minority leaders--producing five-way leaders meetings throughout the budget process. (10) The end result of this novel approach was a good budget that was on time and in balance.

By utilizing administrative tools, there are many things that the Governor can do to achieve reforms even without agreement on legislation and without changing our constitutional processes. I do think, however, that the core of reform is the Executive's legislative agenda. The Governor has a legislative agenda, the elements of which are known as Governor's Program Bills. Looking back over the last eleven years, Governor Pataki has advanced a very broad and aggressive reform agenda through his Program Bills. Some of the initiatives we have been able to accomplish include public authorities reform, (11) lobbying reform, (12) and closing the Flynn loophole in our Ethics laws, (13) just to name a few. The Governor is still fighting to ban gifts from lobbyists, and to achieve real and realistic campaign reform. Of course, there are many other issues, such as initiative referendum, that we continue to fight for as well.

In addition to the Governor's legislative agenda, Executive agencies also have legislative agendas. In the Capitol, we call those Departmental Bills. The State Ethics Commission, for example, has always had a broad agenda of important reforms to the State Ethics laws, often focusing on such issues as tougher penalty provisions and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, among other things. Departmental Bills also represent an important way that we in the Executive go about reforming.

Lastly, even the budget itself, which is probably the most important piece of legislation submitted to the Legislature by the Governor in any given year, typically will include calls for reforms to the process. For instance, the Governor has often included debt reform proposals in his budget, in an effort to ensure that the state debt does not become too much of a burden on taxpayers in the future.

The legislative process is definitely the Governor's main mechanism of reform, but it certainly is not the only one. There is also the constitutional reform process. While the Executive has no formal role in the constitutional reform process--which is left to the Legislature, and then ultimately, the people--the Governor has advanced constitutional amendments over the years, on such topics as budget reform, debt reform, and term limits. (14) Furthermore, the Governor enjoys the privilege of the bully pulpit and certainly advocates for reforms that he believes are important.

Regarding constitutional reform, in 1997 voters were asked whether New York should have a constitutional convention. (15) While the Governor supported that call for a convention, unfortunately, the voters did not. And so, the people of New York State may not have another opportunity to vote for a constitutional convention until the year 2017. (16)

Alternatively, sometimes the courts and the Judiciary become a catalyst for reform. Earlier, Evan Davis talked about the judicial selection lawsuits that have been brought in the Eastern District of New York. (17) That discussion illustrates the point that there are many different ways that reform ends up coming about. Therefore, it is apparent that one must think more broadly about reform than merely in terms of getting a bill passed.

Further, I think it is important to note that the Executive, under Governor Pataki, has a record of very good, solid accomplishments in the field of reform. For instance, I believe that 2005 will be remembered as a very significant year in terms of New York State reform. As I mentioned before...