People were fed up. Even though most lawmakers prevailed at the polls, voters still gave them the word, loud and clear. The drum cry of many newspapers and other media, "Throw the bums out," was heard by enough people to make life a little less comfortable in the halls of the Capitol building in Albany.

The gist of the ideas coming out of a conference last week of many of the state’s editorial writers was that such concessions to reform were trivial at best. Voters and the media have to keep applying pressure to produce more-substantial reforms in what had been dubbed the most dysfunctional state legislature in the nation.

"They are supposed to pass a budget on time and they are supposed to be there to vote, so where’s the reform?" asked longtime Gannett reporter Jay Gallagher.

The main voting reform this year did away with the outrageous but permitted practice by many lawmakers of casting a day’s votes by swiping their legislative cards through a scanner. How ridiculous! So what were these guys doing all day instead of listening to debate?

It was no wonder, then, said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group, that when more and more voters learned about it, they started asking, hey, what are you doing up there in Albany? You’re not listening, you’re not voting, you’re not passing a budget on time. What’s going on?

Many legislators apparently got the message. The first "on-time" budget in 21 years was attributed to rank-and-file conference committees working out budget agreements instead of the usual meetings between the Big Three: Gov. George Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate leader Joseph Bruno.

But even this "on-time" budget left more than a billion dollars and several issues unresolved. While a step in the right direction, what’s to prevent a reversion next year or the year after to the old ways? And what can be done to keep the push alive for legislators to pursue further reforms?

Most observers believe the important reform issues facing state government are Medicaid, corruption, redistricting, education funding, campaign financing, procurement lobbying and opening up to sunlight the state’s numerous authorities.

Many of these issues are being addressed in some way by the Legislature and the courts. Still, there justifiably is not a lot of confidence that state government can agree on how to fix the problems in the long term.

"It is not easy changing a system that doesn’t want to be changed," Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, told editorial writers. So he and some others are calling for a constitutional convention to get the fixes made.

The state’s Constitution is a nightmare to read and make much sense out of, as we have found in recent years with the courts trying to figure out what the document meant by saying every child is entitled to an education. Of course, a court has decided it meant spending a lot more money — and more equitably.

But the chances of a constitutional convention resolution making it through the Legislature for placement on the November ballot are probably bleak. And that’s not even considering of problem of delegate selection.

There’s always the route of amendments to the Constitution, but they have to be OK’d by two legislatures before going to voters. An amendment for fair (nonpolitical) redistricting has been proposed by Brodsky in the Assembly and Sen. Nick Spano, R-Yonkers, in the Senate, but "it will not be easy," the latter said.

And what about the Big Three, each of whom gave their analysis of the reform situation and plenty of lip service to further changes?

Bruno said the Senate passed a reform package last year but Pataki vetoed it. He said more reform "is out there but we need the other house," referring to likely lack of agreement in the Assembly.

Silver outlined an ambitious reform agenda with many of the issues mentioned above, including a November ballot resolution that would mandate an on-time budget. Does anyone believe there will agreement enough to get any of the measures into law?

Pataki outlined how great the state has been doing since he took office, albeit with a few bumps in the road, and offered his proposals for reform that address on-time budgets, procurement lobbying and more-open authorities.

But, again, the question remains: can the three agree to get it done?

Proposals and bills are nice but ultimately meaningless if they don’t become law.

It will be up to you, the voters and constituents, to keep the pressure on your legislators for further and permanent reforms. You got their ears. They heard. Now we just have to get them to do something about it.

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Cary Brunswick is managing editor of The Daily Star. He can be reached at (607) 432-1000, ext. 217, or cary@thedailystar.com.