“Corruption, greed and dishonesty have hurt our families and made their struggles take a backseat to big-money special interests,” said Batman. “Enough is enough. We need real leadership and representatives that deliver results instead of empty promises.”
Batman introduced a four-point plan to tackle corruption and get state government on the right track. The plan includes:
- Instituting term limits for every member regardless of party;
- Increasing transparency in state economic development projects and ensuring they deliver on their promises;
- Closing the LLC loophole to get dark money out of elections; and
- Creating an independent commission to investigate corruption.
Batman underlined the need for stronger ethics reforms and leadership for Central New York, noting that the district’s current assemblyman, Gary Finch, has had his own ethics blunders. Despite saying “I would certainly think 10,12 years would be the max if you’re going to term limit a member of the assembly,” Finch has served in the Assembly since 1999. To defend his two-decade tenure, he told syracuse.com that members of the minority party have less authority and influence and shouldn’t be subject to the same term limits their colleagues are. Further, Finch landed in hot water last year when it was discovered that he had given a job with benefits to a businessman friend and had signed time sheets while the employee was in Florida. Finch himself admitted the position was “not much of a job.” He has also repeatedly voted against closing the LLC loophole (A.1926 of 2017, A.9758 of 2018), allowing corporate greed and wealthy special interests to drown out the interests of voters.
“As long as special interests pour money into our elections and politicians’ power remains unthreatened for decades at a time, nothing will change,” Batman said. “Voters’ voices must be heard. New ideas need to be brought to the Capitol. Real reform and change is our only shot at a government that does right by us.”
Batman will face incumbent Republican Gary Finch on Election Day.
