For much of the past month, state Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, has been pushing for a constitutional convention to help bring about some badly needed reforms to state government.

It's an excellent idea, but in Albany, that doesn't mean it will come to fruition.

But the effort received an encouraging boost last week when Kolb secured a member of state Assembly's majority conference to co-sponsor his legislation for such a convention.

Getting a Democratic Assembly member to join with him on such a bold proposal is no small achievement, so it's worth looking at what may have helped Kolb accomplish it.

Take a look at the columns, press releases and news media quotes Kolb has put out the past few weeks on this issue.

You can find a bunch of them at briankolb.com.

A big key is that Kolb is making his push in a truly bipartisan way.

Kolb is not saying this convention is needed because Democrats in the Legislature have messed things up. He's also not placing specific blame on the governor. He's not going for big headlines with sarcastic quotes or going off in tangents.

What he is doing is saying all sides are to blame for the dysfunction, and that a “people's convention” without lobbyists and politicians is the only way to bring about meaningful change.

Kolb has picked up support from some key prominent political figures on both sides of the aisle (former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, and former Gov. Mario Cuomo, a Democrat, are two good examples).

And that bipartisan momentum may be translating into some progress within the Legislature itself.

Of course, Kolb still has some considerable obstacles to overcome.

The power brokers in both houses of the Legislature and the governor's office have yet to go along with this idea, but Kolb's diplomatic strategy may put them in a position where they have no choice.