The state Senate”™s short-lived hissy fit earlier in the summer still has voters steamed.

A poll released last week by Marist College found that 70 percent remain angry.

And that anger may have had a subliminal effect in a separate poll by the college that found Gov. David Paterson”™s approval rating dropping to 20 percent. (In May he was actually lower with 19 percent. His rating had a bump in June when it rose to 21 percent.)

Keep in mind that the Senate faux coup left the governor foundering as he could not unjam the legislative gridlock created by the newly formed and equally armed partisan voting blocs.

The antics in the Senate put the governor”™s office in suspended animation. Unable to command respect from former colleagues and unable to install a lieutenant governor, Paterson was pulled into the roiling, political stew that voters from all parties found downright unpalatable.

Even in last week”™s poll, only 24 percent of his fellow Democrats think he”™s doing a good job. Across enemy lines, 12 percent of Republicans thought the same.

To add insult to injury, 74 percent of those polled think the state is moving in the wrong direction.
In the poll concerning the Senate, 68 percent said Albany politics are in need of a major overhaul. What”™s real maddening, however, is that only 42 percent are in favor of a constitutional convention that would enable such change. Maybe their anger is clouding their reasoning.

This lingering anger will probably not last long enough. Another 14 months and let it be released in the voting booths. But that amount of time is a lifetime for an electorate that has historically been shown to be memory challenged.

Couple attention deficit with the perennially hyped and perfectly timed arrival of member items to respective communities and you end up with incumbents re-elected. Pork barrel items and time itself always seem to have a memory dissolving effect.

As far as job performance, there were no surprises as 54 percent thought the Senate was doing a poor job. Thirty percent rated the senators as doing fair.

So as not to let the Assembly members go unscathed, 49 percent of those polled rated their work as poor and 33 percent fair.

Take a look at your own business. Would you keep employees who were rated so poorly?
We think not.

 

Make some noise

An old maxim in journalism has always been follow the money. A non-journalistic saying is the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

In the case of the Hudson Valley, none of the above applies.

When it comes to doling out money, this region tends to get overlooked. The funds either head due west from Albany or to New York City and Long Island.

Some recent handouts include:

• 9/16: $15 million for new green development and job creation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
• 9/10: $1.45 million in state transportation funding to improve freight rail service in three western New York communities.
• 9/4: $921,000 in funding annually for up to 10 years for each Center for Automation Technologies and Systems at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Stony Brook University.
• 9/4: $8.34 million in grants for Oswego County through Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers program.

On Sept. 2, the mid-Hudson region scored $17.2 million in Restore NY funds.

When it comes to being tapped for money, the Hudson Valley is No. 1 on the hit list, as evidenced by the payroll tax to bailout the MTA.

Instead of putting the arm on this region, perhaps it”™s time to start investing here and nurture growth.
You can only pick the region”™s pockets so many times before the well runs dry.

The business community needs to start rattling the cage and making noise. If you don”™t act, don”™t complain.