Is the death penalty important?

A friend at New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty sent us the following, which we pass along without comment.

Dale Volker, the Senate's main proponent of the death penalty, vowed during last year's floor debate to hold public hearings on the death penalty during the current legislative session to counter what he characterized as "disinformation" presented during the Assembly hearings. Yesterday, when Sen. Eric Schneiderman reminded Sen. Volker of his pledge, Volker responded by saying that the Senate had "a lot of other important business" to deal with this year. It must be a sign of the times when even Dale Volker considers the death penalty to be less important than many other issues!