It's been a sorry few weeks for New York State. Between the implosion of David Paterson's governorship, Joe Bruno's fraud conviction, Congressman Rangel's departure from the chair of Ways and Means, Eric Massa's announced retirement, and the looming specter of a return of Hiram Monserrate to the Senate, many New Yorkers question whether the problems of the state are more fundamental than perhaps once thought.

Count Ed Koch among them.

“I finally said to myself, somebody’s got to do something,” Mr. Koch recalled. “And if no one else does anything, notwithstanding the fact I’m 85 years old, I’m going to throw myself into it.”

So Mr. Koch is assembling a coalition of powerful civic groups that, starting next week, will plot a purge of the State Legislature by taking aim at incumbents judged to be impediments to change.

“I don’t believe the good ones are good enough,” Mr. Koch said, referring to state lawmakers, “and the bad ones are evil.”

But it's not just Koch, lovable, infuriating curmudgeon that he is.

“We believe we need to challenge incumbents in a way they have never been challenged before,” said Dick Dadey, the executive director of Citizens Union, which was founded in 1897. 

Henry J. Stern, the director of New York Civic, expressed dismay that in some political circles the low regard that lawmakers were held in had elevated Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, to a paragon of statesmanship. “To think there’s an area where Shelly Silver is the giant is ridiculous,” Mr. Stern said.

It ain't pretty, folks. Time to get busy.