LOBBYING REFLECTS HOPE OF REFORM ALBANY

Rockefeller Drug Law Opponents Continue to Press Their Case For
Change

In a last-ditch push to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws before 2002
ends, relatives of prisoners serving long or life sentences for drug
offenses are set to lobby lawmakers in Albany later this month.

"We want change that will save taxpayers a lot of money and save these
families a lot of misery," said Randy Credico, spokesman for the
Mothers of the New York Disappeared. "(Lawmakers) can save some lives
while at the same time carve something out of the $10 billion deficit
by doing something morally right."

Reform advocates say the state would save money if it allows more
nonviolent drug offenders who are clearly addicted to be diverted from
prison into less costly substance abuse treatment.

Members of Credico's group are scheduled to meet with Senate Majority
Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, on Dec. 16. They hope to restart the
long-stalled negotiations to change the strict 1973 laws. The Senate
will be back in session Dec. 17 to vote on some bills left hanging in
June when lawmakers hurried home to campaign for the fall elections.

The group will also meet with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver,
D-Manhattan, who insists his chamber won't be back in session this
year.

Nevertheless, Silver has left the door open for the Assembly to
return. Members of the Democratic majority will be in Albany Dec.
16-17 for a reorganizational meeting, and the Republican minority has
been told to keep those dates open as well.

Sources said it's unlikely -- but not impossible -- that Silver will
call the full Assembly back to Albany. The prospect became more likely
Thursday when Republican Gov. George Pataki acknowledged, after months
of refusing to do so, that the state could face up to a $2 billion
budget shortfall in the current fiscal year. If the Senate passes
spending cuts to fill the hole, the Assembly must also approve them.

But the outlook for an agreement on drug law reform before Jan. 1 is
bleak. There have been no negotiations on the subject since before the
November election, and the differences appear too difficult to
surmount quickly, although history has shown that ideological chasms
can be rapidly bridged in Albany if the political will exists.

The governor, backed by the GOP-controlled Senate, disagrees with the
Democrat-dominated Assembly largely on two key points: how many
prisoners should be allowed to appeal their sentences under the
amended laws and how much sentencing discretion should be returned to
judges. County-based district attorneys have lobbied state lawmakers
not to tamper too much with the drug laws, fearing, among other
things, a loss of power.

Drug reform advocates were disappointed by their failure to achieve
success before the election. Many believed the past two years offered
the best hope for reform, given Pataki's need to appeal to Democrats
- -- particularly Hispanics -- to win a third term.

There is now widespread concern that the call for reform will be
drowned out by the looming fiscal crisis. There is also less political
pressure for the governor to push for reform now that he has won
another four years in office.

"It's definitely a new playing field," said Robert Gangi, executive
director of the Correctional Association of New York, a prison
watchdog group that wants full repeal of the drug laws.

Over the past several years, Pataki made repeated calls to reform the
drug laws, which mandate long to life sentences for offenders
convicted of selling or possessing relatively small amounts of
narcotics. His words rang loudly in the black and Hispanic
communities, which, advocates say, are disproportionately affected by
the laws.

The issue was so important to the governor's campaign strategy that
aides pushed Spanish-language television stations to remove an
advertisement critical of Pataki's drug law reform proposal in June,
citing factual errors. The ads were not re-aired, even after the
errors were fixed.

Also in June, Pataki offered and the Senate passed a truncated drug
law bill that restructured sentences only for the highest level, or
Class A, offenders. The bill would have affected a small number of
people, many of them related to members of the Mothers of the New York
Disappeared, whose stories of loved ones wasting away in prison on
first-offense drug charges tend to attract the most media attention.

The group rejected the bill and criticized the governor for trying to
divide the drug law reform community. Two months later, lawmakers and
the advocates declared negotiations dead.

Reform advocates are now considering how to continue their fight in a
changed political landscape. There has been talk of a hunger strike to
coincide with Pataki's State of the State address in January and a
large demonstration on May 8 -- the 30th anniversary of the signing of
the laws.

Most are trying to remain optimistic and insist they will not give up
until reform occurs. They draw solace from an October New York Times
poll, which found 79 percent of 1,103 people questioned favor changing
the drug laws to end long mandatory prison sentences for low-level
offenses, give judges more discretion in sentencing, and use treatment
as an alternative to prison in some cases.

"This issue isn't going away until something is done," said Arthur
Malkin, an attorney and lobbyist who has worked on drug law reform.
"Too many people are too invested."