Editor’s Note: As the Nov. 8 general election approaches for U. S. President, Congress members, and state assembly and senate, KCP will ask various candidates questions about their views concerning government and the office the are intending to hold.
Democrat Robert “Bobby” Carroll is running against Republican Glenn Nocera for the 44th Assembly District seat left vacant with the retirement of longtime Assemblyman James Brennan. The district includes Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kensington.
Carroll is carrying on his family’s tradition of long being involved in Brooklyn politics. He grew up in and still lives in Windsor Terrace where he went to P.S. 230 and Xaverian High School, and then went to SUNY Binghamton and New York Law School. He is the youngest president of one of the oldest political reform clubs in Brooklyn: Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats. It is in his self-proclaimed role as a reformer that KCP focussed on in the following interview:
Robert Carroll: The political reform movement in New York City stretches back to the 1830s and possibly earlier. When I speak about reform I am talking about bringing transparency to our state government, closing corporate contribution loopholes, liberalizing our ballot access and voting laws, and creating a general sense that there is an even playing field for average people. We also must root out and give no sanctuary to those elected officials who use their office to illegally enrich themselves, their family members and friends. Reforming our government and trying to end corruption are important not only so we can run a more efficient and effective state government but also so our government institutions can regain the trust of the people of the state of New York.
As someone who is likely to go to Albany in January and represent the people of the 44th AD I know how important it is to make sure average folks see government working for them and not just sophisticated insiders or the well-connected. Furthermore, newly elected members of the assembly who are interested in reforming our state government must be ever vigilant in making sure they are representing their constituents and pushing for open and transparent government. It is too easy for members of any legislative body to be manipulated or pushed aside by entrenched and sophisticated institutional actors. I intend to make sure that if elected I will be a member who pushes for reforms and resists pressure from special interest.
If you go to my website you can read my 6 point plan on how to reform our state government. Also please watch a portion of my speech at the Kings County Democratic Party County Committee meeting urging a vote on fundamental reforms of that body.
The reform movement has taken shape in many ways from the creation of the Citizens Union to independent political clubs like Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats.
I am proud to say I was the president of longest continually operating political reform organization in Brooklyn: Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats. I have also worked as an election lawyer to keep many candidates on the ballot and even argued an election law case up to the Court of Appeals.
New York’s political reform movement is a good-government movement and individuals can have vastly different political ideologies and still agree on political reforms. Often the term Progressive and Reform are conflated to mean the same thing or presumed to be connected. They are not. However, one can be both a political reformer and a progressive and I am proud to say I am both.
As a reformer who champions transparency are you concerned with Mayor de Blasio having top consultants also representing lobbyists with business before the city?
They mayor I think has described his platform in great detail and he would be much better to answer that question then me.
