News Clips

Sen. Liz Krueger and Common Cause New York executive director Susan Lerner joined Jarrett Murphy of City Limits and Ben Max of Gotham Gazette on Monday for a special video edition of Max & Murphy on Manhattan Neighborhood Network to size up the political reform agenda in Albany in 2019.

"New York, unfortunately, has been a leader in the past in voter suppression," said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/New York, one of the groups pushing the "Let NY Vote" reform package to bring the state out of the electoral dark ages.

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause, said that Ryan must go, calling his presence on ES&S's board and acceptance of paid trips an "outrageous conflict of interest."

“There is a tremendous amount of demand for democracy reforms,” said Sarah Goff, associate director at Common Cause New York, a government reform advocacy group. “The state Legislature has the unique opportunity, with the dramatic shift in landscape, to prove to voters that they got the message.”

New York is behind 37 states that have forms of early voting in place, but the leader of a state coalition wants to change that. “You are a citizen who has the intelligence to vote; you should be able to decide how and where you want to vote,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a group that’s working with the Let NY Vote coalition.

Common Cause New York made the case for ranked choice voting Tuesday night during a forum at New York Law School. “Folks were very attentive, very positive, there was a lot of energy in the room,” executive director Susan Lerner told The Point. Common Cause has a potential cause célèbre looming — the race for New York City public advocate. Seven Democrats have said they’re running in the special election to be held early next year. The field could end up including 10 to 15 candidates.