Have you seen the NY legislature ? Thugs like Schumer (joined by seatmate Mario Cuomo) would be safe for life, he wouldn’t even have to raise a dime. You’d never have to worry about a Republican winning there, the last would’ve been in 1970. All Democrat after 1975. Good luck with that increased accountability, because it ain’t gonna happen.
Making him less susceptible to out-of-state influences. Chuck-chuck-bo-buck-banana-fana-fo-you-know-the-rest would have to follow the wishes of his state legislature. If the legislators decided that Cap-and-Tax would hurt New York disproportionately, it wouldn't matter what Miss Lindsey Grahamnesty or John F'in Kerry had to say about it. If the state's voters were against Real ID, the Senators wouldn't vote for it, lest they want to face recall by the legislature.
The direct election of Senators lead to the crop of party hacks we have in there. Then you cite the predominance of party as the reason you support the direct election of senators!
We once had statesman like John Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster (don't look it up - tell me what party they represented.) Now you're agitating for keeping the current system that brings us Olympia Snowe, Harry Reid, and Richard Durbin!
Nice system you're defending. Return to the constitutional roots. In almost every case, a return to the founder's original intent would better our nation. They were quite smart.
The republicans had the governership for years during that time, and also controlled the state senate for part of that time.