Presumably, there aren’t too many New Yorkers who favor corruption. But just in case, Jordan Marks has forged a coalition called “New Yorkers Against Corruption” to prevent “unregulated money pouring into New York in a way that New Yorkers have never seen before.”

The spillway through which Marks envisions cash swamping Albany is a Constitutional Convention, or “ConCon.”

Voters going to the polls on Nov. 7 will be asked whether to hold such a convention. If the majority of them answer “Yes” to the ballot referendum, New Yorkers would then select 204 delegates next year. In 2019, those delegates would gather to consider updating the state constitution, and then those amendments would go back to voters for approval.

The process is mandated by the constitution itself: every 20 years, voters must get a chance to convene and overhaul state law, rather than relying on the governor and legislature to do it.

Opponents and supporters of the ConCon are vowing a full-court press in the coming weeks to capture the attention of a mostly-indifferent public. A recent Siena University poll found only one in five New Yorkers has read or heard anything about the upcoming referendum.

In making their case, both sides speak dramatically about “special interests” trying to thwart the people’s will.

Marks talks about unnamed groups who could “flood our airwaves with tens of millions of dollars” to elect delegates and then put in amendments to restrict abortion or limit LGBT rights.

The labor unions who provide most of Marks’ funding – including his $13,500 monthly salary, according to campaign filings – are especially vociferous.

“We have some of the strongest labor protections of any state in the country, and they’re written into the constitution, and it’s my job to make sure they remain in the constitution,” said Mario Cilento, president of the New York AFL-CIO.

Cilento and other labor leaders say a convention could allow right-wing organizers funded by the Koch Brothers or other wealthy conservatives to insert union-busting into the constitution.

But “New Yorkers Against Corruption” is comprised of about 150 groups and they're the ones who are the "special interests," according to J.H Snider.

Snider, who has written about state constitutional conventions throughout American history, supports a convention. He said that those who want to prevent one are composed of two very different groups who want two very different things.

The conservatives know they’re in the ideological minority in New York and fear a ConCon could make the state even more liberal.

“The majority wins, and if you support gun rights, you know if it comes to a vote, you’re going to lose,” said Snider.

At the same time, liberal coalition members, including the New York Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, are currying favor with the unions, he said.

Of the $635,300 raised by New Yorkers Against Corruption – almost twice as much as ConCon supporters have raised – all but $300 comes from unions: $250,000 from SEIU-1199, which represents healthcare workers, and the rest from those representing teachers, police officers, carpenters, boilermakers, government workers and others.

“You only favor a convention if you’re not getting what you want through the state legislature,” Snider said. “When the legislatures were controlled by business, labor supported constitutional conventions. But over the last 40 years, the situation changed, and labor has become more powerful. They're getting what they wants through the legislature, so the unions now view [a convention] as a big threat.”    

But Marks said his coalition – “150 different groups that never see eye-to-eye on any issue, but in this they’re all together” – is sincere in its fight againsta ConCon.

“Everything we value as New Yorkers is up for grabs,” he said.

Not so, said Bill Samuels, a businessman-turned-government reformer, who’s pledged a half-million dollars to the ConCon campaign.

“I believe a Constitutional Convention would be so exciting. You’ll have so many good people that run and get elected,” he said. “If that happens, it’s going to really shake up Albany – and that’s the only way things are going to change.”