• The NY Bar Association supports a constitutional convention (Rick Karlin/Times Union) Photo: Karlin, Rick

Photo: Karlin, Rick
The NY Bar Association supports a constitutional convention (Rick Karlin/Times Union)
Albany
When the city of Albany wanted to put up red-light cameras, they needed permission from the state Legislature.
Barriers to local decisions like that could change if voters in November approve a constitutional convention that would reopen some of the rules regarding local control in New York, said state Bar Association president-elect Michael Miller, explaining why his group supports a “yes” vote.
“It makes absolutely no sense,” Miller said of the need for legislative permission to install local traffic cameras or, for that matter, to make local changes in the speed limit, which was the case in New York City and many municipalities across the state that cannot regulate the speed on their roads without state approval.
Supporters have offered a number of reasons to endorse a convention, including the chance to streamline the state’s byzantine court system and to lift barriers to voter participation.
“The Constitution is broken,” Bar Association President Sharon Stern Gerstman said.
Along with the aforementioned changes, a convention could also allow an amendment mandating a right to clean air and water, as well as one guaranteeing reproductive rights.
Still, leaders of the 72,000-member Bar Association on Tuesday conceded that they will almost certainly be out-spent by opponents.
“We’re not so well-funded,” Stern Gerstman said.
Moreover, there’s been little indication that the state’s legal community is ponying up large sums to support a “yes” vote despite the Bar Association’s endorsement.
While the Bar has limited funds, individual lawyers have been known for their ample contributions to politicians they support.
“There will be no big money on our side,” said Bill Samuels, whose government reform organization, Effective NY, supports a convention.
Still, an affiliated organization, the Committee for a Constitutional Convention will spend what spokesman Al Benninghoff said is a “seven figure amount” on a “yes” campaign.
Stern Gerstman said she believes unions and others opponents tend to be one-issue groups whose members fear a convention could open the door for changes to programs they want to protect such as public employee pensions.
“Whatever that issue is, they are willing to protect it at all costs,” she said, adding she doesn’t believe a convention would lead to changes in pension programs.
Supporters of a convention did win a victory recently with an agreement that could help voters spot the constitutional question on the ballot cards that people mark before feeding into optical-scan voting machines.
State Board of Elections commissioners said at their meeting in early September that they would recommend counties put text and a graphic marking, such as an arrow, on both sides of the general election ballot this November to draw attention to material on both sides. 
That move has appeased supporters of a constitutional convention.
Evan Davis, manager of the Committee for a Constitutional Convention, said Tuesday he would pull his lawsuit seeking to require that the convention question be put on the front of the ballot. A former counsel to the late Gov. Mario Cuomo, Davis is a leading proponent of the convention.
"I think we should be doing whatever we can to make sure the voters do see the full ballot," state BOE Co-Chair Peter Kosinski said at the meeting.
If a convention is approved, delegates would be selected in November 2018. A convention would be held in 2019, with any constitutional amendments ratified at the convention going before the voters on the November 2019 ballot.
Two constitutional amendments also will appear on the 2017 general election ballot. One deals with stripping convicted public officials of their pensions. The other would create a forest preserve land bank. 
Matthew Hamilton contributed
rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU