Upstate groups: Let's secede from NY

Upstate groups are holding a rally in the Southern Tier on Sunday to build support for upstate to secede from downstate in New York.

The rally in Bainbridge, Chenango County, is being organized by some gun-rights groups and landowner groups that are in support of hydraulic fracturing in the Southern Tier.

The groups have been among those in recent months who, frustrated by state policies, have called for parts or all of upstate to secede from the rest of New York.

"Why secession? Secession is about reclaiming the economic opportunities Upstate has lost and restoring the liberties Upstate residents once enjoyed," the gun group, Shooters Committee on Public Education, called SCOPE, said in a statement.

"Downstate has dominated upstate for decades, and upstate has no future in a state controlled by New York City's needs and desires."

The effort faces an extraordinarily uphill battle.

The groups said they are studying two options:

» One would require the legislatures of New York and Pennsylvania to approve the secession, as well as the U.S. Congress.

» The other would create a small New York state government with two autonomous regions — upstate to be called New Amsterdam and downstate to be called New York. That would require either legislative approval or approval through a Constitutional Convention process. Whether to have a constitutional convention — which would allow the public through referendum to make changes to the state constitution — will next be on the ballot in 2017.

The groups have been vocal about some state policies in New York, particularly the gun-control law, called the SAFE Act, that was approved in 2013.

Some Southern Tier activists have also knocked Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who championed the SAFE Act, for also deciding last year to ban hydrofracking for natural gas.

There have been bills in the Legislature for upstate to become its own state — as well as one to do the same thing for Long Island.

But it would be a risky decision.

The Center for Governmental Research, a Rochester-based group, found that upstate benefits from the tax revenue sent to Albany from New York City and its wealthy suburbs.

Wall Street alone represents about 19 percent of all state revenue.

The rally will be held at the General Clinton Park, Route 7 in Bainbridge from 1 to 3 p.m.

The groups organizing the event include Americans for Restoring the Constitution, Deposit Gas Group, Divide New York State Caucus Inc., FundamentalHumanRights.org, Landowner Advocates of New York Inc., New Yorkers United for Kids, NY2A, Oath Keepers, Red Dragon Inc., Sapbush Road Group, SCOPE, Tri-County Tea Party, Upstate New York Towns Association Inc., We the People of New York Inc.