D.O.A. ?

State legislators are joining forces with unions, hospitals, soft- drink bottlers, environmentalists and prison guards to just say no to Gov. David A. Paterson budget proposal.


Strange Bedfellows

Business groups, including Unshackle Upstate, called Paterson's tax package unacceptable. Unions are accusing the governor of balancing the budget on the backs of the poor and schoolchildren.

While Paterson's budget has a heavier reliance on spending cuts than tax hikes, and it limits some fiscal gimmicks. The proposed budget falls short of appeasing ether side.

There are some cuts, but he couldn't resist the new revenue streams, expanded sales of alcohol, an increased reliance on gambling, tax on sugary drinks and of course the old stand by, beating up on cigarette smokers.

My Take

With New York State facing a $7.4 billion budget gap this is the perfect time for the Governor to decide on a direction. Simply put, the scatter shot approach of "some for you, some for you", just isn't going to cut it anymore.

He needs to focus on fixing the long term problems by taking the state in a new direction A good start would be fixing some of the arcane laws that make doing business in NY state so high. Fixing the onerous government union contracts and focusing more on upstate.

Everyone in NY state government is hoping that all this will just go away and they can get back to business as usual.

My hope is that doesn't happen and our leaders will finally be forced to lead.