Monday, March 26, 2007
IT'S ELIOT'S MOVE
NEW YORK POST EDITORIAL
Yeah...the heck with c0mpromise and reason...shut the state down..that I'll show em good..........errrrrrrrrr.......not........simplistic solutions to complex issues....at least the Post is consistent...........andy
March 26, 2007 -- With just six days to go before the start of the new fiscal year, and with no state-budget deal in sight, New Yorkers are about to see just what their new governor - Eliot "The Steamroller" Spitzer - is made of.
Will he settle for a business-as-usual budget - brokered with special interests to the detriment of the Empire State and its beleaguered taxpayers?
Or will he take command of the process - making it clear that if New York does not have a good budget on April 1, it will have no budget at all?
That is, will he shut state government down - and place the blame where it belongs, at the feet of obstructionist legislative leaders?
At the moment, the principal obstacle is Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, who is obstinately insisting on spending $3 billion in make-believe money above Spitzer's own 9 percent hike in outlays.
And no Bruno, no budget.
What next?
Spitzer has three choices:
* Bow to Bruno, putting the state's long-term solvency (and his own legacy) at dire risk.
* Kick the can down the road, extending talks and missing the April 1 deadline - just like in the bad old days.
* Or shut down state agencies - arguing, correctly, that an administration cannot without a budget in place.
If Spitzer hopes to make good on his vow to fix Albany - to "change everything" - his choice is clear:
He must close down New York government.
Tell state employees they're out of work. Ready the pink slips, as then-Gov. Pataki did in '95.
Tell New Yorkers who depend on state services that, absent a budget, they're out of luck; the services can't be paid for.
And tell them, too, to blame Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (and Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver) for the mess.
Let's face it: As critical as this fiscal fight is, there's far more at stake than the 2007-08 state budget.
Yeah...the heck with c0mpromise and reason...shut the state down..that I'll show em good..........errrrrrrrrr.......not........simplistic solutions to complex issues....at least the Post is consistent...........andy
March 26, 2007 -- With just six days to go before the start of the new fiscal year, and with no state-budget deal in sight, New Yorkers are about to see just what their new governor - Eliot "The Steamroller" Spitzer - is made of.
Will he settle for a business-as-usual budget - brokered with special interests to the detriment of the Empire State and its beleaguered taxpayers?
Or will he take command of the process - making it clear that if New York does not have a good budget on April 1, it will have no budget at all?
That is, will he shut state government down - and place the blame where it belongs, at the feet of obstructionist legislative leaders?
At the moment, the principal obstacle is Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, who is obstinately insisting on spending $3 billion in make-believe money above Spitzer's own 9 percent hike in outlays.
And no Bruno, no budget.
What next?
Spitzer has three choices:
* Bow to Bruno, putting the state's long-term solvency (and his own legacy) at dire risk.
* Kick the can down the road, extending talks and missing the April 1 deadline - just like in the bad old days.
* Or shut down state agencies - arguing, correctly, that an administration cannot without a budget in place.
If Spitzer hopes to make good on his vow to fix Albany - to "change everything" - his choice is clear:
He must close down New York government.
Tell state employees they're out of work. Ready the pink slips, as then-Gov. Pataki did in '95.
Tell New Yorkers who depend on state services that, absent a budget, they're out of luck; the services can't be paid for.
And tell them, too, to blame Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (and Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver) for the mess.
Let's face it: As critical as this fiscal fight is, there's far more at stake than the 2007-08 state budget.
