Albany Special Sessions Grow Increasingly Less Special
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They say they have a deal on that, but when it comes to money matters, the wheels grind exceedingly slow. Democratic senate leader John Sampson (pictured) says there's a consensus among senate members to... keep talking. So that means double-secret special sessions!
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli pleads for action because the state is going broke, to which legislators might reasonably respond: so what else is new?
Assembly Republicans have come up with their own budget cut wish list, including an end to environmental-minded "open space" purchases and "elimination of extra spending by the legislature" which by itself is supposed to "generate $1.5 billion," reports the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle with a straight face.
They are ignored by the Democrats, who run things and reportedly have cold feet about Governor Paterson's education cuts. SUNY trustees are floating a 2 percent tuition hike; students are flooding Albany with petitions. Brooklyn senator Carl Kruger is said to be blocking the ed cuts, preferring that the state get the money by taxing Native American cigarette sales.
Well, that'd be about $400 million if we're lucky. The state is over $3 billion in the red. The chances of hitting that target without wounding a sacred cow are remote. But that's what our elected representatives are trying to do. Give them credit: it's exceedingly difficult work, and merits all the emoluments they have coming to them.
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