New York: No budget, growing fiscal woes, plenty of politics

New York: No budget, growing fiscal woes, plenty of politics

Cara Matthews • Gannett Albany bureau • July 18, 2010

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100718/NEWS01/7180357/New-...

ALBANY — As analysts warn of growing fiscal problems in the state, the Legislature has yet to agree on when to return to Albany to finish the budget, which will be one of the latest in New York history.

But that doesn't mean politics have ground to a halt. Candidates are making use of the dysfunction at the Capitol to raise money and further their campaigns, raking in millions of dollars for the November elections, campaign finance reports Thursday showed.

Challengers, despite largely being outraised by incumbents, are buoyed by a recent poll in which the majority of voters gave lawmakers a failing or near-failing grade on the budget.

A state comptroller's report released Thursday provided more bad news: Spending to fund state government has increased a whopping 7.6 percent this year, despite New York's economic woes. Even when adjusted for payments that were delayed from the 2009-10 fiscal year, the rate of state spending is up 4.2 percent — more than twice the inflation rate.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli added that "optimistic budgetary assumptions" could leave the state up to $4.8 billion in the hole this year — a little more than half of the $9.2 billion budget gap that lawmakers have been charged to close.

The stalemate at the Capitol as the political season builds toward November has left some veteran politicians aghast.

"The Legislature's a disgrace and to say they're dysfunctional is to be moderate in your approach," said former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, who is heading up a reform effort called New York Uprising. "They embarrass every New Yorker."

New York Uprising is asking candidates to pledge they will support nonpartisan redistricting, strengthening ethics laws and reforming the budget process. Those who don't sign up before Wednesday will be listed on the group's website as "enemies of reform."

So far, some 57 lawmakers have signed and returned the pledge and about 100 challengers, Koch said. All the candidates for governor are on board, he said.

Voters will get their first chance to cast ballots in the primary elections on Sept. 14, a month and a half away. The general election will be Nov. 2.

109 days and counting

The Senate left Albany before the Fourth of July holiday without voting on revenue legislation needed to complete the budget. The Assembly approved all the budget bills. However, lawmakers are negotiating legislation on a contingency plan in case about $1.1 billion in federal Medicaid money doesn't come through. They are also debating a proposal to allow the State University of New York to set tuition without needing legislative approval, enter into public/private partnerships and allow purchases of goods without a lengthy pre-approval process.

As of today, the budget was 109 days late, 24 days shy of the 133-day record set on Aug. 11, 2004. Lawmakers' salaries have been withheld until they finish the budget.

Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, said no date has been set yet for when the Senate will return the Capitol to finish its work.

"We're still working to resolve the outstanding issues related to the final portion of the budget. We need to protect jobs and compensate for New York's need for federal Medicaid funding," Shafran said.

Sisa Moyo, a spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said Friday that negotiations continue on those issues.

Democrats and Republicans will be battling for control of the Legislature this fall. Democrats won 32 seats in November 2008 and gained power over the GOP for the first time in decades. Republicans have 29 seats, with one open seat formerly held by a Republican.

Harry Wilson, GOP candidate for state comptroller, said in a statement Friday that DiNapoli's report confirmed what Wilson has been saying for weeks — that the budget is "riddled with bad revenue assumptions." Wilson called on DiNapoli not to certify the budget when it is completed.

DiNapoli has said the comptroller does not certify state budgets and doesn't have the legal authority to reject a budget.

Inherited deficit

Candidates for governor have been critical of the Legislature's performance on the budget, but whoever wins and takes office Jan. 1 will inherit his own set of problems. The deficit for the next fiscal year is estimated at $7 billion.

Democrat Andrew Cuomo said the state needs to get its fiscal house in order, "cut the fat" and balance the budget.

"It's not OK that this state still doesn't have a budget, and it's not OK that the legislators are thinking of raising taxes to close the deficit. Raise the taxes from whom? Who are you going to raise taxes on today? The working families of this state?" Cuomo said Thursday during an appearance in Mahopac, Putnam County.

Republican Carl Paladino, a Buffalo developer, accused Silver of overspending and said members of the Senate have been lazing about rather than getting their work done.

"And where's the state Senate today? They're all laying around the pool someplace. They're laying around the pool while New York state suffers," said Paladino, who predicted legislators would be "put out of office."

Republican Rick Lazio's campaign placed some of the blame for the current crisis on Cuomo, the current attorney general, who has a sizable lead in the polls. Democrats control all statewide elected offices and the Legislature.

"Andrew Cuomo and his team in Albany are putting the state in a financial stranglehold. While most New Yorkers are wondering whether they can afford their next property-tax payment, Andrew Cuomo is cruising around in his new RV that the special interests bought for him," Lazio spokesman Barney Keller said, referring to an upstate tour Cuomo began Thursday.

Upstate vs. downstate

In an essay titled, "Upstate legislator is no easy job," Assemblyman David Koon, D-Perinton, explained his frustrations with Albany and the state budget process, and pointed the finger at New York City lawmakers.

"The politics and the back door deals and the priorities that are clearly geared toward New York City are enough to make any legislator from our area extremely downtrodden," Koon wrote in the piece, which he sent to reporters earlier this month.

Frustration with downstate representatives, whose constituents have different priorities from those upstate, was a theme sounded by Republicans and Democrats during interviews on Friday.

Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, who is also the Monroe County Democratic chairman, said that although his party controls the Legislature and the governor's office, he doesn't agree with everything that goes on in the state capital and that he voted against the last two budgets.

"I understand why people would be angry, why wouldn't they be angry? I'm angry," he said. He hopes voters judge him on what he's done, he said, such as being an advocate for mayoral control of city schools, extending insurance coverage for individuals with autism and his work to bring 250 high-tech jobs to Monroe County.

Assemblyman Bill Reilich, R-Greece, who is the Monroe County Republican chairman, said he reminds voters that he did not vote for the budget that his house passed, because it had new taxes. He said most people know Albany is being ruled by one party, and that party is not being productive, he said.

"We are offering ideas, we aren't just saying no to everything," he said, noting he introduced a bundle of bills that didn't go anywhere that would have helped small businesses.

Republicans will be helped in November, he said, because Republican and Tea Party voters are frustrated with what's gone on in government in the last two years.

Pittsford Democrat Mary Wilmot, who is running in the 55th Senate District against Sen. James Alesi, R-Perinton, was careful to say New York City isn't bad, but if she was elected, she would work with other upstate Democrats to try to shape policy from the majority.

Democrats control 32 of the 62 seats in the Senate, though their control of the chamber is something Republicans are preparing to challenge.

Wilmot is campaigning on a pledge to "rightsize" government, but did not single out a specific program to cut when asked.

"I have to go to Albany and see that, but we have something that is not sustainable right now," she said.

Alesi did not return a call left at his office Friday afternoon.

Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece, has been an outspoken opponent of the Democratic leadership of the Legislature, which is based in New York City districts.

"People know that I'm as frustrated as they are," he said, adding that there is no calendar for the Senate to reconvene to pass the budget.

"I've taken a pledge not to vote for any new taxes, and I've lived up to that over the last couple of years," he added.

Democrat Robin Wilt, who is running against Robach in the 56th District, said blaming New York City is not the solution.

"I think it's very easy to say no, no, no and not come up with your own solutions," she said.

Lack of confidence

Nearly three-quarters of the state's voters think New York is headed in the wrong direction, Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said. Upstate voters have felt this way for several years. Downstate voters used to be more optimistic, but the poll found that 56 percent think New York isn't on a good path.

"Now the question becomes, does that frustration, does that anger translate at the polling place in November," he said.

Greenberg said he believes New Yorkers overwhelmingly would like to vote out the 210 of the 212 state senators and Assembly members who do not represent them. Traditionally, many voters support their own representatives: one senator and one Assembly member.

"The real question this year is do they also want to get rid of their own, and we won't know that, we won't see that until Election Day," he said.

CLMATTHE@Gannett.com