New Manhattan Institute Report:
"Albany Inc.: The Special-Interest Conglomerate that Runs New York"

New Empire Center for New York State Policy Special Report:
"Ready for Change: A Statewide New York Voter Survey"

NEW YORK CITY- On January 11, 2006, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research released a new report on New York State government, Albany Inc.: The Special-Interest Conglomerate that Runs New York. This compilation of previously published research details the political processes and policy outcomes in Albany that are detrimental to the public interest, and offers achievable suggestions on how New York State government can be reformed.

"Albany Inc. provides an in-depth analysis of the ills that plague New York State government," said Lawrence Mone, president of the Manhattan Institute. "The report goes further than just critique the special-interest dominated capitol; it also explains what reforms are needed to straighten the meandering ship of state government. The main goal of Albany Inc. is to educate New Yorkers that a small group of special interests have a stranglehold over the state and to show how simple reforms can alter that dangerous political culture."

Also released today, a new Empire Center Special Report, "Ready for Change: A Statewide New York Voter Survey" concludes that most New York State residents are dissatisfied with the performance of state government and would support fundamental reforms in the way Albany operates. The Empire Center is a project of the Manhattan Institute.

"New Yorkers are restless, unhappy, and ready for change," said E.J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center, regarding the new survey. "From one end of the state to the other, regardless of party affiliation, most voters would be open to a public-policy agenda that encourages more direct democracy, limits on politicians' tenure in office, and fiscally conservative approaches to reining in Albany."

Albany Inc. sheds light on the powerful special interests that are running and ruining New York State. According to the report, "Empire State government has become an industry run for the benefit of the few rather than in service to the many." Albany Inc. provides a detailed analysis of how, citing:

• The nation's highest tax burden, which stifles business and snuffs out jobs;
• Record Medicaid spending and a bloated hospital sector that serves union wealth above public health;
• Education funding that is the highest in the nation, with results that are far from the nation's best;
• Public authorities-New York's "shadow government"-that issue mountains of public debt;
• Unionized state employees, among the best-paid in the nation, often making more than taxpayers do;
• A notorious campaign-finance system that has been called a form of legalized bribery; and
• The nation's largest infestation of trial lawyers, who impose an annual $14 billion tort tax.

Tired of shouldering these burdens, New Yorkers are voting with their feet. "From 1995-2004, New York lost 1.7 million residents to other states," according to Albany Inc., "and had the worst out-migration in the country from 2000-2004."

Beyond diagnosing these long-established ills, Albany Inc. suggests ways to end the special-interest plague and restore the Empire State's political health. The report prescribes the following political remedies:

• Cap Spending Growth: If New York passed a Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, similar to the one adopted by Colorado voters in 1992, voters could plug surging tax increases at their source: government spending.
• Consumer-Driven Health Care: Give consumers, not health-care executives, decision-making power over individual health-care coverage.
• Expand School Choice-Not School Budgets: Every New York family-not just the wealthy ones-should be free to opt out of the Empire State's failing public schools.
• Revoke Abused Authority: New York's public authorities are too numerous and too profligate in issuing public debt-and are totally unaccountable to New York's taxpayers.
• Competitive Contracting: Laws that stifle competition and boost the cost of public construction should be repealed.
• Depose Lawmakers-for-Life: Term limits and the redrawing of district lines by a nonpartisan commission would help break the legislature's political stagnation.
• Tort Reform: Create an atmosphere that allows business to prosper while residents feel protected and safe.
• Let the People Be Heard: Albany's overweening power and entrenched resistance to real reform mean New Yorkers desperately need a constitutional amendment allowing voters to initiate changes in state law.

Albany Inc.: The Special Interest Conglomerate that Runs New York is available in its entirety at www.albanyinc.com.

The Empire Center for New York State Policy's new statewide survey of New York voters is available at www.empirecenter.org/sr01-06.

The Manhattan Institute, a 501(c)(3), is a think tank whose mission is to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.
www.manhattan-institute.org