Citizens for a People’s Convention is a single cause, non-partisan grassroots advocacy group arising out of upstate New York.

Our goal is pure and simple: To synergize the voices of the public and civic groups statewide into one powerful, cohesive effort to promote and win a 2013 Constitutional Convention for the people and future success of New York State.

Citizens for a People’s Convention was formed early 2010 in Canandaigua, Ontario County, NY by entrepreneurs Paul Hudson (60) and Floyd Rayburn (56). Paul is chairman of one of upstate’s oldest and leading advertising agencies and Floyd runs a successful multi-state construction company. Neither of us has run for or been elected to public office higher than the local school board. We believe in citizen leadership vs. career politicians, unshackled free markets, fiscal conservatism, tax fairness, and teaching people to fish as the primary social contract. We believe in empowering human hope and individual industry, not reliance on government succor. We believe in measurement and accountability for all functions of government including customer satisfaction and results that meet realistic goals. And we are absolutely convinced that strident partisanship, career politics, and Albany power-mongering are destroying representative government and that New York citizens are thus effectively being subjected to taxation without representation.

Mostly we believe this:  It is time to act.  We simply can not afford to wait any longer. Literally. 

We never envisioned taking on this cause. But someone must step forward and coalesce the voices of dozens of better government groups and associations, hundreds of village, town and county officials, thousands of businesses, and millions of taxpayers who are being forced to sell their homes, shed their jobs, and reduce or diminish their lifestyles in order to perpetuate a behemoth, fast-growing state government gone dysfunctional and unresponsive to the will of the common people.

We’re not revolutionaries, zealots or knotheads.  We’re everyday, common sense, family-oriented, community-minded business people donating our time and talents to seek major needed improvements in state governance.  We’re not for Republicans, we’re not for Democrats, we’re for the people.  All of them.  Today’s citizens and tomorrow’s. 

Please join us in speaking up for a People’s Constitutional Convention.