This is a tale of two cities. One, Washington, D.C., is home to our U.S. Congress. The other one is Albany where our  Legislature resides. One city is a place where the elected officials can’t wait to go home. The other is a place where members stay for decades, sometimes staying too long to be effective.

For many years, both houses of Congress were a place where members would come and stay for years and years. There are members like Sen. Charles Grassley(R-IA), who has served in Congress for 40 years and is planning to seek another term which will bring him into his mid-90s. As I can last remember, his most recent contribution to our welfare was claiming that IRS agents are coming to your home with AK-47s to collect taxes.

Aside from forever senators like Grassley and Susan Collins(R-ME), there is a new trend taking over in our nation’s capital. Members with only short years of service are fleeing in large numbers. At last count 52 members of  Congress are leaving, some of whom who resigned weeks after their announcement. The count is 44 House members and eight Senate members who have declared that they will not seek re-election.

Seven senators are going home for good and one is running for governor of Indiana. Twelve House members are running for the Senate and two are running for attorney general in their states. The vast majority of the House members are going home because they are fed up with being in the lower chamber, which is a highly dysfunctional place.

With the exception of a few bi-partisan budget bills that originated in the Senate, the current House has done nothing during its current two-year term. Every bill that the House majority passes is good for a press release and nothing more. None of those bills have any chance of passing the Senate as they are philosophical and have nothing to do with the needs of their constituents.

When the House majority is done passing its “show bills,” they occupy their time with useless hearings and passing contempt resolutions, attacking members of the Biden cabinet. Their most recent waste of time was passing a contempt resolution against Attorney General Merrick Garland. Garland is accused of defying a subpoena, despite the fact that Republicans Jordan, Perry and Biggs have also defied congressional subpoenas.

Why are House members leaving in such a rush? Almost all of them came to Washington for high-minded reasons, and as they said “a chance to make a difference.” Instead of achieving their lofty goals, they have been forced to sit through congressional hearings with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene(R-Ga.), who talks about “Jewish space lasers” and attacks her fellow members.

Usually a departing member waits until the end of their term, but many of them are running for the exits, anxious to get back to their families. Unlike Congress, the situation in Albany is much different. Many members stay for 10 or more years, during which time they pass bills that help the people who sent them to the capital. Almost of all this year’s retirees have created laws that will have a lasting impact on the state.

Of the 13 who are retiring, only one, Pat Fahey (D-Albany) is running for the State Senate. The other 12 are leaving for good. If you drive the New York State Thruway every week for at least six months, you can get tired, bored and exhausted. These round trips take a toll on the body and the spirit. Having served for 23 years, I readily can understand their eventual desire to get out of town for good.

It is likely that more members will leave Albany next year, when the Legislature imposes income limits on members. No doubt this will drive out some of the established members, who still have a lot to accomplish but are faced with the demand for a full-time legislature.

There is no doubt that sensible and progressive government will continue to disappear in Washington and Albany in the years ahead. That is the people’s loss and it is unlikely to make a comeback.