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More State of the State Reaction
January 6th, 2010

Reactions to Gov. David Paterson’s second State of the State are plentiful.

Here is video of Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos responding to the speech.

And here are a plethora of responses from state leaders and advocates:

From Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb:

“2010 needs to be the ‘Year of Reform’ – fiscal reforms like no new taxes, a property tax and state spending cap and more private sector jobs – and governmental reforms such as enacting initiative and referendum, term limits for Leaders and legislators, a ‘People’s Convention,’ and the toughest ethics laws in America.

We need reform, but we also need a full court press to fix our economy. As a businessman and an entrepreneur, I believe our most pressing
challenge is getting a comprehensive jobs and economic development program in place to get the thousands of New Yorkers who are out of work, back to work.

At a time when more than 800,000 New Yorkers are unemployed, families pay the second-highest combined state and local taxes in the nation and citizens have lost faith in a state government that has continually broken faith with them, we cannot miss this opportunity to deliver on the unfulfilled promise of reform.

Governor Paterson’s address sounded an optimistic tone, but what New Yorkers will be looking for, what my Assembly Republican colleagues and I will be waiting for, is an action plan and the follow through needed to deliver on these promises and the change people have been demanding. Many of the things the Governor called for, our Conference has continually taken the lead in advancing.

I want the Governor to succeed. Our Conference wants the Governor to succeed. New York State needs him to succeed. Where we can,
whenever we can, we must work together for real solutions to the real problems confronting New York and end the crisis of confidence plaguing state government. It’s time for everyone serving in state government to stop the blame game and partisan finger pointing and decide if they are for reform or not.”

From Paterson’s likely opponent Attorney General Andrew Cuomo:

“New Yorkers now face great challenges that stem in part from the failure of government to address their needs, as well as past failures to address the excesses of Wall Street.  It is now more urgent than ever that we make New York more affordable; restore trust in government by
reforming Albany; create, attract and retain jobs throughout the State; and not forget those in need.

Governor Paterson has properly acknowledged some of these challenges in his State of the State address today. The key now, however, is to get it done. To solve these problems in these times will require sustained effort, seriousness of purpose and the ability to build a coalition for change.”

From Paterson’s Republican opponent Rick Lazio :

“Governor Paterson disappointed the people of the State of New York by completely ignoring our massive budget deficit. Governor Paterson needed bold and decisive policies and programs that would eliminate the possibility of any new taxes and that would create tax incentives for businesses and individuals that would create jobs. He did neither. New York is in the deepest economic recession in generations. We need stronger, bolder action and we need it now.”

From Comptroller Tom DiNapoli:

This should be a transformative year for New York State. The lessons of last year should be more than enough incentive to finally fix our state’s long list of problems.

For a whole host of reasons, New Yorkers have lost faith in their government. Governor Paterson has laid out an ambitious agenda to try and restore some of that faith. I don’t agree with everything in that agenda, but I do agree that state government needs to take a serious look in the mirror. And that self-examination should include a real reconsideration of our budget process.

Last month, for the first time in history, the state’s General Fund ended the month in the red. Revenue collections have come in below projections every month of this fiscal year. The fact is New York has never been good at balancing its checkbook. And now the state is living paycheck to paycheck. Local governments and school districts have faced mid-year reductions and fiscal uncertainty. If New York was waiting to hit rock bottom before finally changing its ways, I think we’ve come close enough.

Next year’s budget must reflect what New Yorkers desperately need ― a state government that doesn’t make promises it can’t keep and bases its budget on reality, not political pipe dreams. New Yorkers want, need and deserve a better government than they’ve been getting.

From Senate Majority Conference Leader John Sampson:

New Yorkers are angry and so am I. The people want statesmen to fix our problems, not politicians who ascribe blame without offering a solution. For decades, the Senate spent, borrowed, and taxed New York into fiscal crisis, and now millions of families have reached their breaking point, unable to survive more of the same old pass-the-buck politics.

Throughout our first year in the Majority, we transformed the Senate into a more bipartisan and functional chamber, tackled shady public authorities, and built a new tier in the retirement system to save taxpayers billions.

We saved 250,000 jobs by extending the Power for Jobs Program and created thousands more through the first-in-the-nation Green Jobs program which saved billions in energy costs for property owners.

We reformed school governance and protected children with the toughest drunk driver law in the nation.

But we will not stop there. Senate Democrats will create jobs, get spending under control, and pass property tax relief for millions of New Yorkers who are being driven from their homes. We will continue our fight to expand rights for tenants, workers and women, reform IDAs and reverse years of HMO deregulation to curb rising health care costs.

Most importantly, we will reverse decades of fiscal irresponsibility by reigning in out-of-control spending, consolidating state agencies, and putting the taxpayers priorities above all else. And as our first order of business in the new year, we will pass meaningful ethics reform that gives the people the government they deserve.

The job before us is far from easy, but neither are the choices facing our state. We will meet the challenge of change in these difficult times and deliver to New York a government as good as its people.

From Alliance for Quality Education executive director Billy Easton:

“Governor Paterson is proposing to create an economic recovery based on knowledge, technology and innovation, but he has a consistent record of proposing education cuts that will deny to many of New York State’s children the education needed to succeed in a knowledge-based economy. Governor Paterson has also highlighted the need for real property tax reform, but if he turns around and proposes school aid cuts then his budget will mean higher, not lower, property taxes for New Yorkers.”

From the executive director of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity Geri D. Palast:

“In the Campaign for Fiscal Equity decision, New York’s highest court, in the face of evidence demonstrating years of severe school underfunding, affirmed a constitutional right and a standard for what every schoolchild in New York should have.  The Court said that every public schoolchild must receive:  qualified teachers, principals and school personnel, appropriate class sizes, adequate and accessible school buildings with sufficient space to ensure appropriate class size and implementation of a sound curriculum, sufficient and up-to-date books, supplies, libraries, educational technology and laboratories, suitable curricula, including an expanded platform of programs to help at risk students by giving them “more time on task,” adequate resources for students with extraordinary needs, and a safe orderly environment.  The State’s commitment to fund this right and standard must continue to be a priority that guides the decisions of our state’s leaders in these difficult times.  Tough times do require tough choices.  In 2010, prioritizing education, particularly closing the resource and achievement gaps for our neediest schools and students must be a primary factor in decision-making,” said Geri D. Palast, Executive Director, Campaign for Fiscal Equity.

From Health Care Association of New York State President Daniel Sisto:

“We are gratified to hear the Governor mention the over-regulation that burdens health care providers. We have made numerous specific recommendations as to where the regulatory structure can be modernized and improved.

“It is interesting, however, that he referred to this season as a ‘winter of reckoning.’ For health care providers, it has already been two years of reckoning. In just the last 20 months, the state has imposed five rounds of crippling health care cuts and a new tax that have cost health care providers more than $1 billion a year. What we need to see is the Governor’s plan to offset health care service reductions and job losses created by those cuts.

“He cannot have it both ways. He cannot claim to improve our health care system and then propose still more health care cuts, which are expected to be included in his forthcoming budget plan.”

By David King on January 6, 2010, 4:42 pm
In category: Albany, Eye on Albany | No Comments »

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