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The Remarks Of Speaker Sheldon Silver Opening Of The 231st Legislative Session
Assembly Chamber |
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Allow me to begin the 231st Legislative Session by extending to each and every member of this Body, to your families and to our excellent staff, my heartfelt wishes for a safe, healthy and happy 2008. We are joined in the Chamber this afternoon by New York State Assembly Intern Class of 2008 and by our distinguished faculty:
Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you to The People's House of the New York State Legislature. Please know that we take great pride in our program and that we are committed to making your experience here both enlightening and rewarding. My colleagues, let's give them a warm and generous greeting. Unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, this legislative session begins as did the last, with the loss of a dear soul and with our mutual desire to comfort a family in mourning. As a House, let us keep our colleague, Senator Joe Bruno, and his family, in our thoughts and in our prayers as they deal with their loss. At this time last year, we - lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and in both houses of this Legislature - extended our hands to the new governor and pledged to work with him to reform our government and strengthen our state. In Governor Eliot Spitzer, we recognized a leader who shares our commitment to improving the quality of life in this state for working men and women, and we saw a leader with a passion and zeal for governing. Although it is often lost in the rhetoric, together with the Governor and with our colleagues in government, we accomplished a great deal in 2007,most notably:
Now, we must work with Governor Spitzer to build upon our achievements. It is time to remember and honor those who have placed their trust in us, and who rely on our ability to work together. We have an immense amount of work on our plates. Working men and women and those who are most in need are being swept further and further downward by this economic avalanche. It is time, my colleagues, to accept the "olive branch" that Governor Spitzer is extending to us. I understand that there is doubt. Doubt and dissent are important in a Democracy. Let us not, however, fall prey to cynicism. Rather, let us recapture the hope and the optimism that drew us to public service and inspired us to run for elected office. Let us say to New Yorkers: We can honor our commitment to CFE; We can give every four-year-old access to universal pre-K, and we can improve the quality of education offered in our schools by reducing class sizes. We can make our health care system less costly while ensuring that appropriate, affordable and accessible care is available to every New Yorker. We can rebuild the upstate economy neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city, and region by region. We can make our streets safer and ensure that decent, affordable housing is available to all of our working men and women. We can and must take a thoughtful and serious look at the property tax burden in New York State. If we can accomplish all of these things and give relief to our hardworking property taxpayers, how can we argue with that vision? I believe we will succeed, because I believe in each and every member of this House and in our abilities as leaders; because I know that without a vision there can be no hope for the future. Even as I urge you to embrace this vision and to accept the Governor's call for cooperation, I urge you to remember that each and every one of us - you and I - have earned the privilege of serving in this Chamber, and we have earned the opportunity to make a difference in our communities and in the lives of people we may never know. The process that we honor and adhere to, our legislative process, is the cornerstone of our Democracy. In his testimony at the 1915 Constitutional Convention, State Senator Edgar Truman Brackett of Saratoga, made the case clearly, and I quote: "… when the book is closed and the record is made, it still stands that the Legislature of this State - particularly the Lower House - are the people who most truly represent the citizens of this State." It is for this very reason, that The People's House must always be independent. As the Members of the Assembly, it is our responsibility to guard that independence, to guarantee the integrity of the legislative process, and to ensure that ours is always the voice of the People. It is a responsibility I take as seriously now as I did when you first elected me to lead this Chamber. I tell you this, because in a matter of days, Governor Spitzer will submit the Executive Budget, and we will know how the administration intends to translate his vision into reality. As leaders, we will scrutinize that plan. We will debate it and if necessary, we will modify it. We will take into account our State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's warnings. We will take the Governor's vision and mesh it with the Legislature's priorities and with our belief that civilized society has a moral obligation to provide for the neediest among us. To this we will incorporate the hopes and the needs of every working man and women in this state so that we create a unified vision of the future of New York State. Already this year, we have unveiled an action plan to prevent foreclosures that are the product of predatory lending. Our commitment to working families and to the poor and most needy in our communities requires that we address the full spectrum of challenges: education, day care, health care, the upstate economy, Lower Manhattan, jobs, wages, energy costs, tax relief, small business, public assistance, the minimum wage, paid family leave; the list is long. My colleagues, we have dealt with fiscal downturns before and we will do it again. Fortunately, we are blessed to have the wise and guiding hand of our great Ways and Means Chairman, Denny Farrell. Denny, they say that tough times are ahead, but we know that you have seen it all. Your courage, your class and your character have carried us through every crisis and every conflict. It goes without saying that our faith in you is unwavering. The holiday season always reminds us of the many blessings in our lives. Few are more important to us than your leadership and your support, and personally, your friendship. Speaking for the Body, let me say to our esteemed Majority Leader, Ron Canestrari, that we have every confidence in your ability to complete the work that must be done on the floor of this House. We know that you will lead this House with decorum, with fairness, and with an appreciation and a genuine respect for the history of this Chamber and for our essential role in the governance of this state. Ron, you have indeed become the outstanding Majority Leader all of us knew you could be. That is why we will do everything in our power to make your job as easy as possible. We thank you for your leadership and I thank you, as well, for your wise counsel and your generous friendship. Minority Leader Tedisco, Jim, over the last few years, the Majority and the Minority - in bipartisan fashion - have enacted reforms and rules changes in this House to foster greater transparency and openness in our deliberations. I hope that we can look upon the challenges of this new legislative session with fresh eyes and I trust that we can continue to work together to restore the People's trust in us and in their government. Customarily, I close my remarks with a famous quote. Let me instead, close with a quote that one of my grandchildren shared with me recently. "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That is why we call it 'the present.'" My colleagues, let us use "the present" wisely, and let us together, deliver the gifts of hope and security to working families in every community across our great state. Thank you. |
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