Steely wheals - Westfair Communications

Will he stay?

Will he quit?

Will he be indicted?

Will he be offered a non-indictable exit package?

Most of our lawmakers are incapable of any meaningful actions as they stand frozen by the distractions.

Attention deficit is on overload in Albany.

The state continues to teeter on the edge of insolvency.

The state budget is due soon. At least one lawmaker noticed. His name is Brian Kolb, as in the Assembly Republican leader.

“Taxpayers want us to get back to work and focus on the primary responsibility for all 212 legislators and the governor alike: passing the state”™s budget and doing so by New York”™s April 1 fiscal deadline,” Kolb said in a press release.

“That is what the people expect and that is what we must deliver. What we cannot do is go back to the bad old days when New York”™s budget was routinely late or decided in virtual secrecy the way last year”™s was.”

Want to fix the budget? Let the state comptroller have a crack at it. Thomas DiNapoli came out with a plan that would address long-standing deficiencies, such as accountability and transparency.

Let us not go down the road ”“ as some have suggested, even DiNapoli himself ”“ of letting Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch tend to the budget. It was Ravitch, a former MTA chairman, and Gov. David Paterson who came up with the bailout plan.

A sore issue that continues to resonate through the Hudson Valley is the MTA payroll tax.

The MTA tax always comes with an adjective: despicable, onerous, misguided or just plain dumb.

For Al Samuels, president of the Rockland Business Association, he”™s apt to use a much stronger adjective.

A recent resolution by the Westchester County legislature calling on state lawmakers to repeal the MTA tax was “disingenuous,” he says.

He”™s right to be angry. Less than 20 percent of Rockland”™s work force leaves the county to get to their jobs, let alone take trains. Rockland, like Dutchess, Orange and Putnam counties, are “quarter-pounders,” in that they are only afforded one-quarter of one vote on the 17-member MTA panel.

Samuels points blame at the four state senators who represent all or part of Westchester for the passage of the payroll tax ”“ Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Suzi Oppenheimer, Jeffrey Klein and Ruth Hassell-Thompson all voted in favor of the $2.3 billion bailout.

All it took is for just one to vote against it for the measure to fail.

As we have said before on these pages and will continue to repeat: If American soldiers can risk their lives for our nation, why can”™t our politicians be willing to risk their jobs to do what”™s right?

To be fair, Klein and Hassell-Thompson really don”™t count as Westchester reps since their hearts belong to New York City.

Stewart-Cousins”™ district, the 35th, rides the rails that go through the river towns of Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown, Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson and a piece of Yonkers. Through gerrymandering the district also includes Pleasantville, Elmsford and Ardsley.

Initially, she and Oppenheimer held out on voting in favor of the tax ”“ 34 cents per $100 payroll ”“ until Paterson threw in a little something-something for the school districts.

That compromise was the state”™s willingness to reimburse school districts for the cost of the payroll tax, which amounts to about $60 million a year.

Republicans at the time criticized the reimbursement plan saying there was no guarantee the schools would see that money.
Any schools get their money back yet?

Stewart-Cousins sponsored or had her name on 101 pieces of legislation over the past year. Of the 10 adopted, none were of major consequence.

Anything meaningful to stanch the flow of businesses and residents out of the state? Negative.

And keep in mind, the MTA bailout plan also created new fees for driver”™s licenses and learner”™s permits, motor vehicle registrations, surcharges for medallion taxis and an increase in auto rental tax.

John D”™Ambrosio, president of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, said he recently had a member quit. Why? The cost of doing business in the state is too high and he was moving his business to a tax-friendlier clime ”“ Tennessee.

President Obama was elected on the simple promise of change.

Time to bring change to New York.