NY State Budget

It's nice to see an almost on time NY State budget. Unfortunately, for this to happen Albany had to revert to their usual "three-men-in-a-room" budget process. So now Gov. Spitzer is beginning to learn the realities of how the most dysfunctional state governments in the Nation. The rank and file legislators are not happy with the budget process.

"Nothing was done in this budget to address the number-one problem facing New Yorkers — high taxes," said Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward (R-Willsboro) in a news release Sunday. "High taxes are making it nearly impossible for people to make ends meet in the North Country.

"After traveling throughout my Assembly District and meeting with taxpayer groups, I could not, in good conscience, vote for this budget."

She and Assemblywoman Janet Duprey, R-Peru) deplored the process that produced the budget, setting aside reforms that Sayward said should have been implemented but were not due to stalled negotiations.

"Once again, this year's state budget was developed in secret meetings," said Duprey in a statement.

"Members were supposed to have plain language budget bills on their desks with time to read before a vote," said Sayward. "However, that has not occurred."

Rank-and-file lawmakers sometimes had just minutes to view bills of hundreds of pages before a vote was called. All of that extended a late-night session Saturday into Sunday, the first day of the 2007-08 fiscal year, leaving a Capitol with staffers on their second or more days with little or no sleep working around empty pizza boxes and coffee-stained cups.

So my question to the rank and file members is "Why not do something about the process"? Are you telling us that the entire rank and file membership in the two legislative bodies have no power whatsoever over how the budget process works in albany? If that is the case, why do we need you?

UPDATE: Teresa Sayward is on NCPR complaining about the NYS budget. It's too high. She won't blame the Republicans for making it high however.