Consider this the dead zone of New York state politics.
It”™s that part of the year between Thanksgiving and the middle of January, when nothing gets done other than some routine bill paying.
Add a lame duck governor to the mix and changes in the makeup of the Legislature and, well, you get the picture.
Don”™t expect anything important to get done. There are Christmas parties to attend.
Gov. David Paterson is still at work. Citing “unfinished business that must be addressed before the end of the calendar year,” he called for “an extraordinary session of the Legislature.”
“We have a responsibility as elected officials and as such, I call upon the state Legislature to join with me in completing this work and fulfilling our obligation as public servants.”
It will be extraordinary to see if anyone shows up, let alone acts on pressing matters facing the state.
One matter of utmost importance that will probably be kicked over to the new Legislature is the ballooning deficit, akin to an aneurysm if we view the state as a living body. Wait a minute, it is a living body, populated with some 20 million people and falling ”“ make that fleeing; fleeing to states with low property taxes.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli last week said that the state”™s deficit is about $1 billion. That is three times bigger than what was projected by the Paterson administration.
Legislators need to stop worrying where they will be going for Christmas break.
Our state lawmakers must begin discussing in earnest the plans that Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo has already made public concerning capping property tax growth at 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.
As part of his transition team, Cuomo has created The Council of Economic and Fiscal Advisers. It is made up of 19 of the best and brightest people from Felix Rohatyn, former chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corp., and Kenneth Chenault, CEO and chairman of American Express, to Ken Adams, president and CEO of the Business Council of New York State and Ken Langone, co-founder of Home Depot and former director of the New York Stock Exchange.
With the budget gap positioned as a runaway train, Cuomo said the transition team will work with his administration to implement his vision.
In announcing the transition team on Veterans Day, Cuomo said, “As I have said throughout my campaign, fiscal reform will be a top priority of my administration. We must overhaul our government, clean it up and pare it down while simultaneously putting New Yorkers back to work and making New York once again the jobs capital of the nation.”
Lawmakers need to heed his call. Lame duck or not, time will be wasted if action is not taken immediately. How many more business and residents need to flee the state before something is done?
To another 100 years of imagination
The Council of Industry of Southeastern New York recently marked its 100th year of serving Hudson Valley manufacturers with a luncheon at the Powelton Club in Newburgh.
Manufacturing is still a viable industry in this nation despite many attempts to write about its demise at the hands of China and India. Harold King, executive vice president of the Council of Industry wrote it best in the membership directory handed out at the luncheon.
“The last century should have taught us that American manufacturing is not about the masses toiling in enormous, cold, dark factories. Instead it is knowledge, creativity, productivity and innovation.”
Who in 1910 could have imagined television, let alone the computer, King asked.
“What innovations, large and small, are in store for us, our children, grandchildren and great-children? How will they make the nation and the world a better place? We can only imagine.”
