| All-County Taypayers Association | "The
price of freedom is eternal vigilance... |
THE PEOPLE HAVE PROHIBITED IT We the people, by the clear terms of our NY Constitution, have prohibited the State from giving public resources to private individuals or corporations in aid of private undertakings and for borrowing money without voter approval. State government doesn’t like to be restrained by the people. No government does. It likes to spend money and wield power. So, in 1995, the government asked the people for their approval of Proposition 3, which statewide ballot proposition included a set of amendments to the Constitution including one which would have allowed the State to use a public Authority to issue bonds without limit and without voter approval to pay the debt contracted by private corporations for their private, non-public purposes. The State had in mind a State takeover of a private, investor-owned electric utility, the Long Island Lighting Company ("LILCO"). The people voted "no", overwhelmingly. However, in April of 1998, the State authorized the Long Island Power Authority ("LIPA"), a public authority of the State, to issue $8 billion in long-term bonds to pay the debt of LILCO and to purchase the common and preferred stock from LILCO’s shareholders. It’s interesting to note that the proceeds of the bond issue were also used to "reward" the men who mismanaged LILCO for so many years, by giving the President a $42 million bonus and $25 million to another 25 of LILCO’s most senior managers. On May 22, 1998, ACTA people brought the matter to the Judiciary. * Click here * to see a copy of our brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals. |