Morning, folks.\u00a0 A June-like day out there this Sunday morning, so I assume most of you are reading this on Monday morning at work when you’re supposed to be, well, working.\u00a0 Here’s what’s stirring the passions of local editorial writers this weekend.<\/p>\n
The Watertown Daily Times<\/a> praises Governor Andrew Cuomo for securing a Tier VI pension category for new government workers in New York.<\/p>\n Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the Legislature have taken another step to rein in the unsustainable costs of public employee pensions by adding a new tier to the system that raises employee contributions and incorporates an optional alternative to the traditional defined benefits plan.<\/p>\n The new Tier VI just two years after the state had added a fifth tier to the state pension system is a major accomplishment for Gov. Cuomo, who came to office pledging to reduce state spending without raising taxes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Adirondack Daily Enterprise<\/a> echoes that praise, but the paper blasts the governor for getting there ugly.<\/p>\n It is disappointing to see Andrew Cuomo’s first term take the same path as that of New York governors before him: Start off strong, not just talking reform but actually changing some of the undemocratic practices in Albany, and then, come crunch time, slide back into the familiar, murky pattern of governance by three men in a closed back room, wheeling and dealing with high-stakes issues that should be debated publicly on the Assembly and Senate floors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n