State Senate candidate Chris Jacobs is proposing a reform agenda that he says, will "bring Democracy back" to Albany. The plan includes ending Albany's three men in a room culture. Jacobs, a Buffalo Republican says, to get it done he will push for creating a bipartisan "Reform Caucus" of like minded legislators from both the Senate and Assembly.
"Because I think that it's like disarmament. Unilateral disarmament is difficult. You have to have both sides disarm at an equal proportion. So when you want to push for things, like term limits, you're going to have to do that together, both houses doing that," Jacobs said.
His Democratic opponent in the 60th Senate district race, Amber Small says, while reform is needed she's disappointed in the proposal. Small says, changing Albany is going to require limiting legislators outside income and other financial reforms.
"He's a person himself who's gotten tens of thousands of dollars in tax breaks from the IDA industries. And there's nothing in this about removing that conflict of interest," Small said.
Jacobs says, New York puts massive amounts of power in the governor and the leaders of both houses. He says, his plan will place power back in the hands of individual legislators.