Sunday, January 28, 2007
Newsmaker of the month: Eliot Spitzer
(ap photo)The Dunkirk Observer Editorial
This editorial..is short and sweet..and right to the point........andy
1/28/2007 - New governor has aggressive agenda.....New York state Gov. Eliot Spitzer has a pretty big job ahead of him. He must try to revive the economy of the upstate region and get residents — and those involved in government — to start looking at the bigger picture.Spitzer, who took office on Jan. 1, made quite an impression during his State of the State speech earlier this month. He said — without question — there are too many layers of government and something needs to be done to reduce that.“We must consolidate New York’s multiple layers of local government — those 4,200 taxing jurisdictions that cost taxpayers millions each year in duplicative services and stand as yet another impediment to change, ’’ he said. ‘‘Together, we must summon the political will to face the reality that 4,200 taxing jurisdictions are simply too many, too expensive and too burdensome.’’Those many layers, we realize, are one of the reasons we pay such high taxes. Spitzer would like to reverse that trend — and turn around the fortunes of our region. To start, Spitzer has named Daniel Gunderson as the ‘‘economic development czar’’ for upstate with the office being located in Buffalo.We said often on this page former Gov. George Pataki was often missing in action on some big issues. For starters, Spitzer seems on the right track to fixing those things Pataki ignored.
