Oh, SmAlbany!

Off the ballot: It's now almost certain that city charter reform will not be on the ballot this fall, as the ACA's petition signatures were affirmed to be invalid by the courts yesterday. But as I've said before, this is a classic long-term win-through-losing situation: it wasn't clear charter reform was going to pass anyway, and now the pro-charter groups have some extra time to build their case, with the additional advantage of being able to leverage the anti-democratic nature of the recent defeat. This is particularly true since charter reform is only a portion of their agenda. Defeat at the polls would have been a death-blow to the pro-charter groups. Defeat at the institutional rules level is almost certainly a catalyst for their wider movement.

And, lest we forget, it gives Democracy In Albany more grist for the mill.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 26, 2005 at 10:07 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.