Earlier this week, Marty Golden and his Senate GOP colleagues gave away $10 million in school aid, and not a dime of it will go to New York City schools. In fact, not a dime of it is going to any district in the state represented by a Democrat. Golden and his shameless cronies in Albany think their constituents are stupid. Like Tammany Hall, they think that support should be bought, not earned. So they'll send a few million taxpayer dollars to loyal towns and cities. They'll sponsor lip-service commendations to keep teachers and administrators back home from getting too angry. "I'm on your side. I honored so-and-so for his great work on this-and-that," they'll say.

What Golden and his colleagues don't realize is that we're entering a new era in New York politics, in which average New Yorkers - Republican and Democrat - are fed up with pandering and small-minded politics.

> Read my whole statement from last week

Today was a busy day for campaign finance in New York State. This afternoon in Albany, State Senate Democrats urged passage of the Campaign Finance Reform Act. Tonight in Brooklyn, the Bay Ridge Democrats, the Working Families Party, and good government groups kicked off a monthlong push for Fair Elections in New York State.

It seems like something amazing is happening this year. We've seen the wealthiest and the poorest New Yorkers all demand campaign finance reform. When you have such a broad group calling for change, you have wonder why it's not already done. Unfortunately, the reason is crystal clear: too many Albany politicians have been and continue to be corrupted by money. They've never had anything to gain from reform, because they've always been able to get away with the status quo.

That's going to change this year. Out-of-work voters are fed up with politicians that are supposed to represent them instead being distracted by dollar signs and shiny things.

> Read my whole statement from today

Last month, I joined TWU Local 100 and Assemblymember Bill Colton in calling for the restoration of the original B64 bus route in southern Brooklyn. I think the time has come for the people of southern Brooklyn to reclaim their transportation system. For too long, we've had to watch as an unaccountable MTA chipped away at our bus and train service and tone-deaf Albany politicians tried to cut transit even more.

The current, shortened B64 route has put the squeeze on small businesses, students, seniors, the disabled, and hundreds of residents who have no other means of getting to work or school. Rather than distributing the MTA's financial burden more fairly, cuts like these have placed it squarely on the shoulders of those who can least afford it.

> Read my whole statement from last week

The New York Times reported last Thursday that New York business, civic, and philanthropic leaders had formed a coalition to advocate for campaign finance reform in the state. The group is sending mailers to the constituents of a targeted group of State Senators, including Senator Marty Golden.

I strongly support their efforts to make meaningful campaign finance reform in New York State a possibility this year. I've always felt that the overabundance of money in our political system is a corrupting influence that fuels a constant cycle of political abuse and distracts our elected officials from serving the communities that elected them.

While Marty Golden has made time to sponsor bills that honor big contributors to his campaign, he has a dubious record when it comes to curbing the influence of money in politics. That's in large part because he's one of the system's biggest beneficiaries; 68% of his campaign funds came from PACs and Corporations, not everyday voters like you and me, according to his latest filing in January.

> Read my whole statement from last week

> Read more about how we can  make  Albany accountable again