Tales from the sausage factory : making laws in New York State / Daniel L. Feldman and Gerald Benjamin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Feldman, Daniel L.

Contributor:

Benjamin, Gerald.

Series:

Excelsior Editions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Legislation--New York (State).

Legislation.

Legislators--New York (State)--Biography.

Legislators.

New York (State)--Politics and government--1951-.

New York (State).

New York (State). Legislature. Assembly--Biography.

Feldman, Daniel L.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (394 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Laws are like sausages," Otto von Bismarck is said to have remarked. "It is better not to see them being made." Even among sausage factories, New York State's legislature is notoriously dysfunctional, but as Tales from the Sausage Factory reminds us, this was not always the case. Indeed, in the early 1980s, New York's legislature was a model of professionalism. Cowritten by former state legislator Daniel Feldman and political scientist Gerald Benjamin, Tales from the Sausage Factory offers an up-close look at how law and public policy are made in New York State. Drawing on Feldman's experiences as a member of the New York State Assembly from 1981 to 1998, the book focuses on four major battles over public safety policy in the 1980s and 1990s—organized crime control, the Rockefeller drug laws, sex offender notification, and gun control. Not afraid to name names along the way, Feldman and Benjamin show how politics works in New York State and how major public policy questions are decided (both in the legislature and the courts), as well as how New York's legislature might rise above its present dysfunction to recover the professionalism it once had. At a time when frustration with at state government is at an all-time high, Tales from the Sausage Factory is a much-needed reminder of what we can—and should—expect from our state legislators.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Prologue—The Senate Scandal of 2009

Getting the Job and Starting It: Politics, Ethics, Values

What Counts When Legislators Decide

How Things Work

Playing by the Rules, and Changing Them

The Organized Crime Control Act

Getting into the Prisons and Drugs Business

Reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws

Beating the Leadership, Winning in the Courts: Sex Offenders and Megan’s Law

Guns—The Struggle in the Legislature and Courts

Life in the Legislature: Politics and Lawmaking

The New York State Legislature—On Balance

Sources

Some Notable Changes in Employment

Index of Names

Subject Index

Index of Cases

Notes:

"Excelsior editions".

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9781438434032

1438434030

9781441674173

1441674179

OCLC:

670429020