The pledge is part of Koch's New York Uprising, a group of influential state residents who
advocate nonpartisan redistricting, budget reform and ending «pay to play» politics.
Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, whose NY Uprising PAC dubbed lawmakers «enemies» of reform if they declined to sign his
redistricting, budget and ethics reform pledges last year; former AG Bob Abrams, Dr. Calvin O. Butts, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church and president of SUNY Old Westbury, The Daily Beast and CNN contributor John Avlon (who also heads up the
nonpartisan group «No Labels» with which Mayor Bloomberg is affiliated), Asian - American
advocate Grace Lyu - Volckhausen, and Hispanic Federation President Lillian Rodríguez López.