The Edward Snowden– N.S.A. leak story has provoked a debate that is fundamental to our politics: how best to bring about reform. The question can be boiled down to whether it is more effective—and more righteous—to seek change by working within the system or by challenging it from the outside. Both tacks are fraught with difficulty and danger. Governments, and power structures in general, are set up fundamentally to resist reform, and in almost all instances employ every tactic at [...]

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Christine Quinn looks to be mobilizing her support within New York City’s LGBT community, as her mayoral campaign will host an “LGBT for Quinn” press conference on Thursday at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan. An email obtained by City & State sent from Quinn’s campaign indicates that the City Council Speaker will roll out her LGBT policy platform as well as a list of her 1,500-plus LGBT supporters. Quinn, who would be the first openly gay mayor in the city’s history [...]

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A Bronx nonprofit organization, the Bronx River Art Center, sent out an email on behalf of City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, inviting guests to a fundraiser for her re-election campaign and encouraging voters to cast their ballots for her this fall–which would be a clear violation of tax laws governing nonprofit organizations–though the head of the organization claims that the email was meant to be sent out as a private email, not on behalf of the art center. The [...]

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The controversial Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, or GENDA, has the support of New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. In a letter to the state Senate leadership today, Kelly said that there had been no safety risk following the passage of a similar bill in New York City. “In 2002, the New York City Human Rights Law was amended by Local Law 3,” Kelly wrote. “Among other things, Local Law 3 protects against bias in areas including public accommodations. I am not aware [...]

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Assemblyman Francisco Moya is mostly known in Albany for promoting the DREAM Act, but he also has been trying to block a bill that would make building workers liable in several situations that could occur on a developer’s construction site. The Scaffold Law protects workers by holding contractors and developers accountable for injuries at the site, but opponents say that risky employee behavior should also be taken into account. Moya sent a letter last week to his colleagues to scuttle an amendment [...]

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