Bill Samuels formed the New Roosevelt Initiative in a successful effort to oust disgraced State Senator and Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada and replace him  with an idealist insurgent candidate now-Senator Gustavo Rivera who has already lead efforts to reform Albany — a New Roosevelt.

The New Roosevelt Initiative was reluctantly created using a loophole in campaign finance law that allows unlimited independent expenditures — a loophole the Initiative seeks to close but will continue to use until it is successful in its efforts to close the loophole itself and reform Albany.

Our great Empire State, finds itself at a critical time. In the worst economy since the Great Depression, we are saddled with a government that is ineffective, plagued by corruption and scandal and lacking the visionary leadership that once defined our state. With the Empire State sliding into decline, major problems remain unaddressed, and people with the potential to become leaders avoid elected office in favor of more honorable professions.

It was not always thus. About 100 years ago, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won his first campaign for the state senate, he entered an Albany that was led by an extraordinary collection of New Yorkers. The governor was the Republican Charles Evans Hughes, who became a U.S. Secretary of State and a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The legislature Roosevelt served in had future governor and presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith as head of the Assembly, and future U.S. Senator Robert F. Wagner leading the State Senate. It was perhaps the best collection of leaders the Empire State ever had.

The Albany of today however, has become a national laughingstock. With increasing frequency we read about corruption scandals, sex scandals and even violent criminal activity from the very individuals who are elected to represent us. Even legislators who come in with the highest standards of integrity and the best of intentions will unavoidably be drawn down into the mire of Albany’s legislative dysfunction. The motivations of individual politicians doesn’t matter now because the rules and laws which govern the lawmakers themselves are systemically flawed.

These are not new problems.

In 1860, William Tweed became head of Tammany Hall and in the same year, opened a private law office to collect fees from corporations doing business with the city. In 1868, when he became a State Senator, his law practice remained open and thrived with his new “business” contacts.

During the 1860s Tweed parlayed political influence into hard cash. Despite meager legal knowledge, he opened a law office to dispense “legal services” to such corporations as the Erie Railroad.

150 years later, little has changed. The leaders and many members of both Houses of the legislature have private law practices, taking on clients which the public has no right to know. Other members serve as “consultants” to entities with business before the legislature whose identities are similarly shielded. The Senate’s former Majority Leader has already been convicted of stealing honest services from his constituents, and multiple investigations are examining the extracurricular activities of members of the current Senate leadership.

We need a new generation of legislators who will take the lead in ending these unscrupulous and embarrassing practices. Our State Legislature launched the political careers of both Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, great reformers in Albany who went on to do great things for our nation. In this time of crisis for our State, we have launched this initiative to find the New Roosevelts who can help return New York to greatness.

The New Roosevelt Initiative has supported those candidates for State Senate who have the independence, integrity and commitment to change our State legislature for the better. Focusing on the core reforms that are needed, candidates that have received support will and have now been elected will work to create a legislature that returns dignity to elective office and restores honor to public service.

While issues like taxes, the economy, schools and health care are often viewed as the most important concerns of voters, the sad truth is that Albany will never address any of those issues until we reform the very system by which people become and stay members of the legislature.