Personality

Author Seymour Lachman on the 'Failed State'

After serving in the state Senate for more than a decade, Seymour Lachman was disillusioned with how things worked in the state Capitol and left office to return to academia. In 2006, he published “Three Men in a Room,” his account of the behind-the-scenes decision-making process controlled by the governor and legislative leaders. Now the director of the Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform at Wagner College, Lachman is out with another book that renews his critique of Albany – and suggests various solutions and reforms. City & State’s Jon Lentz spoke with Lachman about the growing number of lawmakers convicted of corruption, the control legislative leaders have over their members, and how a constitutional convention could actually clean up Albany.

C&S: You’re the author of a new book, “Failed State: Dysfunction and Corruption in an American Statehouse." Why did you write this new book?

SL: Well, what prompted me was the stark reality that things are getting worse, because of a lack of a real democratic process in the state Legislature. Things have worsened rather than improved. Let me give you a glaring example of what I mean. You take a period from 1980 to 1995, before I entered the state Senate in 1996, you had convictions of four members of the state Senate. Ten years later, when I served in the state Senate, that decade, there were two convictions of state senators – and that’s not misdemeanors, that’s felonies. But when you view the last 10 years, from 2005-06 to 2015-16, you see 16 convictions of felony crimes committed by members of the state senate. For the first time in New York state history, you had a Senate majority leader convicted two weeks after an Assembly speaker. That has never happened before, and I’m trying to find out if any other state has that.

Now I’m not saying New York has the worst state government. Over the last generation, Illinois has had three ex-governors in jail. We’ve never had that, but we came close to that with Eliot Spitzer. It never occurred. So I’m not saying the entire state government is the worst and corrupt, but I am saying that in the New York state Legislature, it is the worst in the nation. And recent studies at major universities have revealed that to be true.

Seymour Lachman

C&S: The governor recently argued that New York does have independent oversight, with the district attorneys and the state attorney general and U.S. attorneys.

SL: Well, we don’t have an effective, independent body like a Congressional Ethics Committee. We lack that, and because of that many things occur that might not be illegal but are unethical. And sometimes this goes beyond the line. I can you a few examples of that. In the only legislature in the nation – and I’m saying this with a great deal of study and even some hesitation – no bill has ever passed in the Senate or the Assembly in the decade that I was a member of the Senate without the support of the majority leader. The same holds true in the Assembly. No other legislature exists where leaders appoint all the chairs of all the committees, as well as committee members. Nothing else exists such as the budget process in the New York state Senate and Assembly.

In preparation of the last budget that I had to vote in when I was in the Senate in 2005, the meeting of the Finance Committee occurred a half hour before the budget was to go to the floor. And guess what? We were given a telephone directory of over one thousand pages of the budget for the coming year. Today the budget is about $154 billion. It was somewhat less then, but it was over $100 billion. And we were told, you have to vote for this and you have to vote for it in a half hour. And the chair of the committee said you’re very lucky, you can read it, and the other legislators who aren’t on the Finance Committee, they’ll come to the Senate chamber and they’ll have to immediately vote on it. Some of us said, this is crazy! How can we possibly do anything? In New York state, you can’t even amend the budget without the support of the three men in the room: the speaker, the majority leader and the governor. And you know what the chair of the Finance Committee’s response was? He said, well your leaders, our leaders, have all approved it.

C&S: In your book, you write that one of the best ways to clean up Albany would be to hold a constitutional convention.

SL: The reason why it’s critical is that no substantive changes will take place in the current process that exists, and the current control by two of the three men in the room, unless change is brought about by an outside group. Every 20 years there can be a vote on changes through a constitutional convention. Things are getting worse in the democratic process, in the malfunction and dysfunction of the two bicameral legislative houses, and the only way this can be eliminated is through a state constitutional convention.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.