{"id":2337,"date":"2010-07-03T09:06:01","date_gmt":"2010-07-03T13:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=2337"},"modified":"2010-07-16T16:37:57","modified_gmt":"2010-07-16T20:37:57","slug":"draft-david-paterson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2010\/07\/03\/draft-david-paterson\/","title":{"rendered":"Draft David Paterson"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Times is running a story on its website today<\/a> that paints an absolutely devastating portrait of a dysfunctional state government — and it’s not about about Albany.<\/p>\n

Illinois is currently running a $12 billion dollar deficit, with more than $5 billion in current bills outstanding that state officials can’t pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what the state owes right now to schools, rehabilitation centers, child care, the state university \u2014 and it\u2019s getting worse every single day,\u201d Illinois comptroller Daniel Hynes told the Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not some esoteric budget issue; we are not paying bills for absolutely essential services…That is obscene.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unlike New York state, the governor and lawmakers in Illinois have literally stopped compensating school districts and many non-profits that provide contractual services.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, they have borrowed billions of dollars to close gaps in the state pension fund.\u00a0 Even as the red ink rises, they refuse to consider serious solutions.<\/p>\n

More broadly, Illinois is caught between blue state convictions about social safety nets and a red state aversion to taxes. For years, the Democratic-controlled legislature has passed budgets that are, in effect, in deficit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After watching the budget process this session in Albany, it’s hard to imagine that New York would be faring any better than Illinois if not for the budget-cutting and belt-tightening measures taken by Governor David Paterson.<\/p>\n

His performance even drew guarded praise from some Republican lawmakers in the North Country<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I’m hearing from the people in my district and I think they agree with what he’s doing,” said state Senator Betty Little (R-Queensbury).\u00a0 “I think that what the governor is proposing in cutting back on spending…is a good idea and they like it.”<\/p>\n

Which is why it is so troubling that Gov. Paterson is not participating in this year’s election campaign.<\/p>\n

Granted, his popularity evaporated under withering attacks from public employee unions, Republican leaders, and his erstwhile Democratic allies.<\/p>\n

And the governor has managed to run one of the least adroit political machines in the history of New York state, while putting his own foot squarely in the occasional scandal.<\/p>\n

But it is frightening to think what this year’s budget would have looked like without his stubborn fiscal brinksmanship.<\/p>\n

As it happens, Andrew Cuomo — the Democratic frontrunner in the governor’s race — is also saying many of the right things about New York’s fiscal future<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But without a strong challenge in the primary — Gov. Paterson has decided not to seek re-election — it is impossible to gauge the depth or seriousness of Mr. Cuomo’s commitment.<\/p>\n

Will he challenge the legislature, the public employee unions, operators of debt-ridden public corporations, and the groups that oppose any (even reasonable) tax increases?<\/p>\n

It’s hard to say.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that New York’s political culture looks troublingly similar to that of Illinois — with the singular exception of Gov. Paterson.<\/p>\n

I for one would like to see him re-enter the race.<\/p>\n

Even if he couldn’t possibly win, this courageous move would allow Gov. Paterson to participate in public debates and forums with Mr. Cuomo, articulating his own views, while pressing Mr. Cuomo for more concrete ideas and policy-proposals.<\/p>\n

Your thoughts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Times is running a story on its website today that paints an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[886],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2338,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337\/revisions\/2338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}