ROCHESTER (AP) -- A pro-business coalition intent on invigorating New York's fiscal health said Thursday it will issue lawmaker scorecards in the run-up to the November elections.
"Unshackle Upstate," a fast-growing advocacy group, unveiled a voter-education campaign that will tabulate how each of New York's 212 state legislators line up best with its goals for capping property taxes, lowering state government spending and creating jobs.
Launched in 2006 with an emphasis on improving the business climate in beleaguered upstate cities, the group now boasts the support of close to 50,000 employers from Buffalo to Long Island. It pushes tax cuts and changes in state regulations it sees as inhibiting economic growth.
When the legislative session ends in June, the group expects to focus on two or three races where it will back candidates in the Nov. 2 election.
"I don't think we've ever taken this aggressive approach," said Executive Director Brian Sampson. "We're going to tell you who are the good actors and who are the bad actors. And of the bad actors, these are the two or three we think are particularly bad and have credible challengers."
Unshackle Upstate has proposed reducing state budget spending in 2015 to $109 billion - equivalent to inflation-adjusted levels in 2000. The current proposed budget for 2010-2011 is $134 billion.
Its 100-point scorecard will rate members of the Senate and the Assembly on their voting records as well as their backing for its key legislative issues.
Keeping a tight lid on commercial and residential property tax increases in New York "is probably going to be the one (issue) that resonates most," Sampson said. "We need our elected officials to really look at the cost drivers in the property tax system and start to fix them."
Founded by an alliance of business leaders, educators and civic officials mainly from western New York, Unshackle Upstate insists its push to make New York more hospitable to manufacturers, retailers and entrepreneurs is not guided by party politics.
"There's an entire group of people in the state that feel disenfranchised from their particular party, whether it's Democrats or Republicans," Sampson said, adding that the coalition draws support from "everybody that's in the middle" rather than far left or right.
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