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BK Keramati
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Better Government
Lower Cost
Lower Taxes |
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BK Keramati
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Better Government
Lower Cost
Lower Taxes |
Need for full public financing of campaigning
In response to the June 6 editorial "Reform, Mr. Paterson?"
I have been advocating for full public financing of campaigns for several years, supporting the efforts of many organizations, such as Citizen Action of New York. Their proposed Clean Money, Clean Elections legislation would eliminate the stranglehold that money holds on our elections, lobbying and dynastylike incumbencies.
Yet, New Yorkers, like most other Americans, have become immune to the ills of our existing system, and most of them do not even think there are alternatives. It is past time for citizens to wake up and see that they indeed can save our democracy by insisting on the passage of legislation for full public funding of elections.
Governor Paterson must have the courage to not only push for what is right, but also use his bully pulpit to educate the rest of us that a solution is possible and at hand.
BAHRAM "BK" KERAMATI, Ballston Spa
Lobbyists paying to play is the problem
This is regarding the March 3 Charles Krauthammer column, "Much ado over harmless lobbying." Krauthammer gives only one side of the story — i.e. lobbying is a useful and necessary part of our society communicating its wishes to its legislators. What he conveniently ignores is that our legislators have set up a system whereby those who wish to reach them have facilitated access if they also contribute to the legislators' campaigns.
Our legislators spend many hours schmoozing with donors instead of either doing the people's business or spending quality time with their families. Krauthammer is correct in the point he does make, but the public will be much better served if lobbyists left their checkbooks at home.
Only full public funding of elections will clean up this legal corruption. Our legislators can make this possible. Citizens need to call on them to do exactly this.
Bahram Keramati, Ballston Spa
Daily Gazette, January 11, 2008
Richard Cohen's Jan. 9 column, "Politics and almighty dollar: Enough!" makes a strong case for "pulling the plug" on the use of private money in electoral campaigns. Full public funding will not only lead to fair representation, but will also change the nature of lobbying to one of "giving information" from the current "money for favors" process. New Yorkers must know there is a draft Clean Elections Bill that has been prepared with wide input from the successes of Maine, Arizona and Connecticut, states that have instituted full public funding mechanisms. Citizens who care about this issue must insist that their Assembly representatives persuade Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to bring this draft bill to the floor of the Assembly and pass it. Gov. Spitzer has already given his support. New Yorkers have a chance to be among the leaders for this critical reform. It's a blueprint that Congress should follow.
Bahram Keramati, Ballston Spa
The New York Times, Nov. 30, 2007
To the Editor:
Even if we accept the increased security that has resulted from the surge, all that has been proved is that you can achieve security by overwhelming force. We had already learned that lesson from Saddam Hussein's brutal regime. Unfortunately, we are now in a situation that the only path toward reaching both security and political stability is for the United States to clear the battlefield and let the Iraqis deal with their own internal conflict. Denying this reality does nothing but lead to more destruction and death. What are we trying to prove, our honor?
Bahram Keramati, Ballston Spa, N.Y.
The New York Times, May 21, 2007
To the Editor:
Re "Why This Scandal Matters" (editorial, May 21):
The Department of Justice scandals under the leadership of Alberto R. Gonzales are not only significant in their own right, but they are also symbolic of how the Bush administration has damaged the ideals that we hold so dear as "American."
The concepts of innocent until proved guilty, habeas corpus and a slew of other values have been ignored outright. Almost everybody with any degree of moral authority is calling for Mr. Gonzales's resignation, whereas in fact the root of the problem lies with his boss, who champions the blatant support of values that are so clearly un-American.
President Bush is the man who should be the focus of our ire. His underlings just do his bidding.
Bahram Keramati, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Leave Iraq only when the violence stops
What are we going to do about Iraq? Here is a path to stopping the war if President Bush is serious about the role of the United States to help establish a viable and sovereign government in Iraq. If he were really sincere about this, he would go on national television, both in the United States and in Iraq, and make the following announcement: "The U.S. armed forces and all their contracted agents will begin withdrawing from Iraq exactly one month after violence against Iraqis stops. When the 30-day no-violence goal is reached, the withdrawals will begin, and will be completed, in its entirety, in 60 days. We expect that the nonviolence will persist through the entire 90-day period. If it does not, we will feel obligated to stay there and protect the Iraqis. At the end of the 90-day period, the Iraqis will have their country all to themselves, with all the rights and responsibilities that its sovereignty implies. "Any significant violence during this critical period is a sign that those who promote the violence really want the United States to stay there, and we will. The only way we will leave is for the violence to stop and for the Iraqis to find a way to live with each other. Our venture into Iraq was a response to a threat that we perceived at the time. With Saddam Hussein gone, these threats are now different. However, the Iraqis themselves are in the best position to address these threats."
Bahram Keramati, Saratoga Springs
The New York Times, April 5, 2007
To the Editor:
Full public financing of elections is the only way to clean up the money-in-politics mess. Changing private contribution limits is mere window-dressing.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court equates money with speech -- what wisdom!
Still, voluntary full public campaign financing laws have already passed in some states, including Arizona and Maine.
Voters can push for national laws in Washington. The Fair Elections Now Act, proposed by Senators Richard J. Durbin and Arlen Specter, would make a good start by changing the way senatorial campaigns are financed.
Bahram Keramati, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Daily Gazette, (Schenectady, NY), March 13, 2007
Clean up elections with public financing
Carl Strock's March 8 column once again performs a public service by pointing out the inherent and apparently legal corruption that is built into our political system. I am referring to the second half of his column where he points out how private donations are used by Schenectady's mayor for a range of questionable purposes through a political action committee called Schenectady First. The prospect of quid pro quo that these donations create is obvious and troubling. The only way to clean up these dirty tactics from our political scene is to legislate the outright banning of private funds for political purposes. New Yorkers have a special opportunity to take a healthy step in this direction by supporting the Clean Money Clean Election (CMCE) campaign of Citizen Action of New York. Gov. Spitzer has committed to this campaign but the battle must first be fought in the New York Assembly, as most Assembly members would rather keep the status quo. To make this step successful, every New Yorker who cares about our political future needs to write to their Assembly member and urge him or her to support CMCE. Please do your part and save our democracy.
Bahram Keramati, Saratoga Springs
Daily Gazette, November 26, 2006
New York should make election reforms now
We just finished another election season with some new officials soon to be in office. I would like to believe that our elected representatives are generally honest and hard-working people who have a strong desire for public service. Unfortunately, the system of elections and representation itself is broken, and the government thus elected represents the wishes of a few big donors at the expense of the needs of the entire constituency. Consequently, we continue to have seemingly intractable problems with health care, education, and totally irresponsible runaway spending, with national debt mounting. Those who can and should make the right changes are beholden to the few who helped (i.e. spent the most) to put them in office. The net effect is that what gets done benefits just a few, and what needs to get done never gets "out of committee." In New York State, we have a special opportunity to legislate voluntary public funding of state elections in 2007. Governor-elect Spitzer has supported "Clean Money, Clean Elections," as proposed by Citizen Action of New York (www.citizenactionny.org). This reform needs to be treated as an urgent issue, and it should be addressed in the first 100 days of his administration. The public needs to demand this reform from their elected officials, starting with the governor-elect, assemblymen and senators, by writing them, calling them, or visiting them in person. Let's make sure our government works for us.
Bahram Keramati, Saratoga Springs
Money has too much influence in politics
The May 14 opinion piece by James Pinkerton is a confused and mostly illogical attempt at blaming political corruption on the personal behavior of representatives. He concludes that "the real corruption in Washington has little to do with money and everything to do with the sense that normal standards don't apply." He gives as examples a member of Congress slugging a Capitol cop, and another member driving under the influence.
What an astonishing and silly diagnosis of our national ills! But the more serious and devastating conclusion that Pinkerton draws is that private cash is not the problem on Capitol Hill. What he ignores is that the effect of private money is the indebtedness the money creates for any representative. The effect is much more insidious than bribery, though it is quite legal. We are all human beings and even the best among us will exhibit human failings, including the outright violation of laws and personal and moral lapses. This fact does not justify continuing with a campaign funding mechanism that makes the elected representatives beholden to a few who can afford to dole out the cash needed for their elections and re-elections. Money in politics is a real problem. In my opinion it is at the root of many of our present failures, including health care, education, foreign policy, and the lack of trust that our best interests are being represented by those we elect.
BAHRAM KERAMATI, Saratoga Springs
