Opening Day Remarks

I gave the following remarks this afternoon for the opening of the 2008 Assembly Session. Video will be posted soon.
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Mr. Speaker… Majority Leader Canestrari… my fellow colleagues… welcome back. It’s truly good to see you, one and all…

Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, as we begin this, the 231st session of our state legislature, I think it essential that we ask ourselves an important question…

What kind of a session do we want this to be remembered as?…

Will it be remembered as a session of partisan acrimony and personal mistrust?...

Of political gridlock and legislative stalemate?...

Or, where we can, when we can, however we can, will we find that all often-illusive common ground?…

And forge in the fires of discussion, deliberation and debate, a consensus, a true consensus, on issues that 18-and-a-half million New Yorkers we collectively represent want to see – and deserve – progress on…

Bread-and-butter, kitchen-table issues addressing the “middle class squeeze” gripping far too many families…

Families from Brooklyn, to Binghamton, to Buffalo – and all points in between…

Who are working longer… and harder… for less…

Families that are struggling – literally, struggling – just to keep their heads above the rising tide of a dollar that, while harder to get, seems to buy less than ever…

Families feeling a crushing, exhausting “middle class squeeze” of skyrocketing property taxes, soaring gas prices and rising Thruway tolls…

Families that stay up well into the late night, when the kids are asleep, going over their budget, figuring out what they can afford, what they’ll have to forgo and how they will explain it to their children…

Families that save every penny, stretch every dollar, because they’re worried about being laid off…

Worried about being downsized, worried about providing their children more opportunities and a better life than they themselves had…

The father who puts in endless double shifts and collapses on the family couch, too tired from work to play with his children…

Or the single mom, who works all day, goes to night school, struggles against the odds and tries to spend quality time with her child…

Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, these are the families – the families that work hard, raise their children and play by the rules – that elected us to come here…

To have the privilege – and that’s what this is: a privilege – of serving in the “people’s house”…

And enact an agenda that advances their needs, not those of any political party…

Or favored constituency, or personal whim…

How?...

With a bi-partisan, common sense agenda that deals with that middle class squeeze I described, and deals with it directly and decisively…

By the timely enactment of a property tax cap, that provides real relief…

For the overtaxed, overregulated, overburdened families, senior citizens, farmers and small businesses who have long since passed their breaking point…

By renewing our Upstate economy…

Through cutting job-killing bureaucratic red tape, supporting manufacturing and investing in our emerging high-tech industries that hold a promise of real jobs, better wages and the opportunity for families to stay together, right here, in New York…

By ensuring the safety and security of all New Yorkers by passing the Chronic Criminal Act, expanding our state’s DNA Database and identifying and stopping sexual predators – the worst of the worst – before they strike and claim yet another innocent life…

Mr. Speaker, in addition to these priorities, this agenda aimed at alleviating the “middle class squeeze” so many of our mutual constituents now face, I know, we all know, there are a whole host of other public policy issues we need to address…

From improving education, to making health care more affordable, to continuing to reform government so it is the taxpayer’s servant, not its master…

But, if politics is the art of making the impossible, possible, then responsible governance is about setting priorities – and sticking to them…

I believe… our Assembly Republican Conference believes… the New Yorkers who pay the taxes and the bills for what we pass in this Chamber believe… that we must prioritize…

For even though the word “government” may mean different things to different people…

The reality is that, given the severity of this “perfect financial storm” that’s already swamping too many of our constituents…

Our State government cannot afford to do everything for everyone…

And it’s incumbent upon each of us, as legislators, holding a sacred public trust, to differentiate between the needs of the people we serve… and the wants of the elected officials, who are fortunate to serve them…

That’s the hallmark of a representative democracy such as ours – for us to meet, to discuss, to deliberate, to debate these issues…

With civility, honesty, respect and open minds…

And then join together in mutual accord, to break through barriers to progress, to persuade the agents of delay and help make real change a reality…

If there was an actual job description for being a Member of the Assembly that would likely be it… to
help make New York’s full potential a reality…

To serve our fellow New Yorker…

To improve the quality of life for every man, woman and child of this great state…

Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, going forward, this session…

Let us pledge to cooperate without compromising our principles and beliefs…

Let us commit ourselves to a more perfect union…

Let us reach agreement that not only respects majority rule, but protects minority rights…

Let us, in the words of one of our nation’s greatest Presidents, President Abraham Lincoln – a true leader who risked his reputation and gave his life – to keep our then fledgling nation from being torn apart by the evils of slavery and civil war…

A Leader who, in speaking to the necessity of embracing fundamental, far-reaching change to overcome real challenges, said the following…

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew”…

“So we must think and act anew”…

Powerful words from a powerful leader…

In accordance with President Lincoln’s timeless admonition, it is incumbent upon us all to “think and act anew”…

For, if we set down the crucible of partisanship and pick-up our God-given birthright as Americans…

As New Yorkers…

A birthright to dare, to dream, to achieve, to join together in common cause for the greater common good…

Then we will renew New York…

We will master this moment… our moment… New York’s moment…

Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, thank you and may God continue to bless this house, our great state and its citizens.

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