Henry Clay is Not the Man for Our Times

The United States Senate has proven again the maxim that a camel is a horse designed by committee.

Thank you centrists Collins, Nelson, et. al., for this: $40 billion for state fiscal stabilization eliminated.If Governor Paterson's record of rolling budget slashing is any indication, this compromise puts us all on a toboggan ride to fifty third-world states.

Paul Krugman, whose Novel Prize in economics has not yet amplified his voice to audible levels on the Senate side of Capitol Hill, is getting snarky in his impatience:

What do you call someone who eliminates hundreds of thousands of American jobs, deprives millions of adequate health care and nutrition, undermines schools, but offers a $15,000 bonus to affluent people who flip their houses?

A proud centrist. For that is what the senators who ended up calling the tune on the stimulus bill just accomplished.

Fair enough. And who to blame?

All in all, the centrists’ insistence on comforting the comfortable while afflicting the afflicted will, if reflected in the final bill, lead to substantially lower employment and substantially more suffering.

But how did this happen? I blame President Obama’s belief that he can transcend the partisan divide — a belief that warped his economic strategy.

Also probably fair enough. After all, most of those on the other side of the partisan divide are signatories to Grover Norquist's "National Taxpayer Protection Pledge," as are a number of so-called "centrists." And that pledge would be...?

ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and
TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.

That would be Hooverism on steroids. Or as Norquist himself famously put it, shrinking government to the size where you can drown it in a bathtub. 172 Representatives and 34 Senators in the 111th Congress live in Norquist's pocket. Including "centrists." Even after Katrina.

How does one compromise with people who believe this? Henry Clay was known as The Great Compromiser, but his greatest compromises didn't accomplish much. At best, they only delayed the civil war. Clay is not a role model for our time. This is not the change America voted for.

One of 50 Mini-Hoovers? Yep.

The Deficit Reduction Plan passed. Austerity will be the name of the game in New York State government for the remainder of this year’s budget. Yesterday the legislature approved a third round of cuts for this year alone. Because New York, like most states and unlike the federal government, must balance its budget, four options, in any combination, were open to the Governor and legislature:

• raise revenue
• seek help from the federal government
• use reserves
• cut the budget.

Revenue increases are under consideration for next year’s budget through an assortment of fee increases, but the elephant in the room – New York's virtually flat income tax brackets is not (top bracket of 6.85% applies to adjusted gross incomes of $20 thousand for single filers, $40 thousand for joint filers.) Although billions of dollars could be raised through adjusting those rates, on Monday Governor Paterson reiterated his disinterest in restoring a progressive income tax system to New York State:

"What I'm saying is if you tax the rich right now, while the economy is disintegrating, you're going to lose jobs and you're also going to lose from the tax base as people leave the state...I don't think that taxing the rich is the best way to go right now."

The Governor is repeating the very same claims made by his predecessor's predecessor, which were refuted by the facts after New York placed a temporary surcharge on upper incomes, in the wake of the post-9/11 recession and a $12 billion New York State budget deficit, in 2003. It also is of some concern that the term "tax the rich" evokes images of class struggle, when advocates simply are calling for restoring a progressive tax system commonly regarded as just since ancient Greece.

Governor Paterson also dismissed pleas to wait for federal stimulus funds:

“Regardless of any action that may be taken at the federal level, it is clear that New York has a responsibility to get its own fiscal house in order. Any stimulus aid we receive will only cover a fraction of our long-term deficit. We cannot simply look to Washington to solve all of our budget problems.”

No advocate called for Albany to "simply look to Washington to solve all of our budget problems," and the inference is unfortunate. Advocates had asked Albany to wait and see to what extent the federal government might help. That's quite different.

Finally, New York’s rainy-day fund was not considered, presumably because times are not hard enough, despite Governor Paterson's claim that "the economy is disintegrating."

The Albany Times Union has a good summary of the cuts, to which you can link here.

[Of particular note: many non-profits get their funding from the pool of funds known as New Legislative Programs. Funding for new legislative programs will be reduced by 20 percent of remaining spending. Here is a link to the chart that details all of the new legislative programs cuts.

FPI Answers How to Balance the Budget (Fairly)

The Fiscal Policy Institute's Frank Mauro and James Parrott lay out the case succinctly in the Gotham Gazette:

As the economic damage ripples out from Wall Street, Gov. David Paterson has proposed drastically slashing state spending. School aid, health care, SUNY and CUNY, child care, program for the elderly, homeless prevention and long-overdue wage increases for social service workers struggling to stay above the poverty line will all feel the effects of the budget ax. While he chops away, though, the governor has steadfastly refused to call for a progressive hike in the state income tax -- an increase that would affect only the most affluent New Yorkers. For the governor, "shared sacrifice" means that the state's low- and moderate-income families and communities must sacrifice while the fortunate few at the top, who benefited the most from the tax cuts of the last 15 years and from this decade's economic growth, will emerge from the budget largely unscathed.

In the 1990's a bunch of New York's plutocrats called themselves "Change New York," went around bullying politicians, and enabled George Pataki and his long reign of tax bracket squashing. Google "Change New York" and you'll find everything but them -- but the fearsome ghost of CNY must be haunting Albany yet. Their acolytes have not been silent.

Anti-government voices have mounted a steady drumbeat calling for steep budget cuts, ostensibly to rein in "out of control" state spending. The reality? State spending has increased to fund important new commitments such as providing medical care to people without health insurance and aiding urban school districts with high concentrations of children from poor families. The state government also dramatically expanded spending on property tax relief and acted to partially undo years of underinvestment in mass transit and public higher education.

Now to think these voices have the public good in mind would be quite naive. Check out The Shock Doctrine (see the Amazon widget in this blog's right column). So what should New York really do?

What should they do? In addition to its investments in infrastructure, unemployment insurance modernization and other measures, the massive economic recovery bill now making its way through Congress includes aid, called “state fiscal relief,” for the explicit purpose of helping states balance their budgets without putting too much additional drag on the economy. Since this legislation is likely to go to President Barack Obama for his signature in mid to late February, the sensible course would be for Paterson and the legislature to wait to see exactly how much “budget balancing” aid New York will receive under the final legislation. The chances are excellent to certain that the state will get several billion dollars it can use right away, since important parts of the “state fiscal relief” is retroactive to Oct. 31, 2008...

Some budget cuts may be unavoidable, but the state should also consider closing tax loopholes such as one that benefits non-resident hedge fund general partners working in New York State and taking other actions to generate budget savings. These could include ending the wasteful and failed Empire Zones program, increasing the use of state engineers rather than contracting out that work to expensive consultants, or using the state's sizable purchasing power to get better prices on prescription drugs.

Raising taxes on high earners would also be a step toward restoring fairness to New York's graduated income tax, which has become significantly less graduated over the years. Today, because of the state's increased reliance on regressive sales and property taxes, New York's middle- and lower-income households pay a higher share of their incomes in state and local taxes than the top 1 percent or the top 5 percent.

Sounds like a plan.

Is Our Children Gonna Learn?

The Campaign for Fiscal equity (CFE), which won a landmark ruling in New York State for high-need school districts, testified to the legislature against Governor Paterson's plan to cut education funding. Additionally, CFE's Executive Director Geri Palast released this statement:

The Campaign for Fiscal Equity believes the Governor’s proposal to cut $2.5 billion from New York’s classrooms is bad economics. In addition to a budget deficit, there is an education deficit that by law and long term economics must be one of the state’s top priorities. The Legislature must construct a budget based on this comprehensive view of the deficit. New York’s public school children have lived with the education deficit for over 15 years as documented in the CFE litigation. It severely imperils the ability of our children to become skilled and productive contributors to our society. The 2007 Education Budget and Reform Act provided the four year timeline and fnancial commitment to address this education deficit.

While CFE recognizes that we face tough budget challenges, the Legislature must not tolerate changes to the funding baseline set last year, 2008-2009, and must take extraordinary steps to make good on this year’s commitment despite the economic downturn. The proposed federal stimulus prioritizes education.

Those funds must be taken into account along with additional deficit reduction funds that could come from increasing the personal income tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers. We simply cannot afford to increase the education deficit. It will put us back where we started and undermine New York’s capacity to provide its students with their constitutionally mandated sound basic educations. Compliance with this constitutional mandate is a legal, economic and moral necessity. This should be the bottom-line factor in all budget decisions.

The Albany Project puts a face on all this:

In Greece, NY, the School District is preparing to lay off up to 100 people.

Rochester schools are facing the firing of up to 500 staff.

Buffalo School Superintendent James Williams is being forced to dip into a $15 million dollar surplus to ease a $52 million dollar cut in state aid.

In the first of three meetings planned with residents, Williams urged parents to appeal to local state legislators to blunt the blow to school funding, which he said would be catastrophic. "If you [translated] that into people, you're talking about 900 to 1,000 [jobs]. You'd dismantle the system.

There's no way we could operate that way," Williams told local news reporters before the start of the meeting with about 250 parents in Southside Elementary School.

Williams noted that since 2005, the district has shed 1,000 jobs through attrition.

Meanwhile, resistance continues to adjusting New York's income tax rates, so that the haves contribute something more resembling their fair share. And politicians quietly tiptoe around the topic.

Well, is our children learning?

On Halloween, 1936, President Roosevelt gave a campaign speech at Madison Square Garden. The take-away quote was this:

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace -- business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me -- and I welcome their hatred.

FDR's description is as true today as it was more than 72 years ago. It appears that our Governor and Legislature, on the other hand, welcome their support.

Fairness -- What a Concept

The Fiscal Policy Institute's James Parrott has a timely and spot on summary of New York's tax policy in the Times Union:

Gov. David Paterson's budget proposal shows that the top 5 percent of New York taxpayers had 59 percent of all income in the state in 2006. That's one and a half times the combined income of everyone else. However, if you put this together with the income numbers from 2002, and with the budget's projections for 2009, a curious picture emerges.

Even allowing for some slippage in high incomes in the recession, all of the income growth between 2002 and 2009 will go to the wealthiest 5 percent. The other 95 percent of households taken together will have about the same income this year as in 2002 (and that's without adjusting for inflation.) The incomes of the top 5 percent will have doubled over that period. That's a $200 billion income gain.

Now I'm not surprised that I've been treading water the last seven years. But I am surprised that the top 5% has seen a doubling of incomes overall. Now I'm sure that not everyone with a six-figure income has fared so well, but enough have to make the average staggering.

So what to do with New York's equally staggering deficit?

Asking the top 5 percent — or maybe just the top 3.5 percent with incomes over $250,000 — to pay a slightly higher rate on their state income taxes seems like a reasonable way to share the sacrifice that's being exacted by a damaged economy and a tighter budget.

It would also be a step in the direction of restoring fairness to New York's graduated income tax, which has become significantly less graduated over the years. Today, New York's middle- and lower-income households pay a higher share of their incomes in state and local taxes than the top 1 percent or top 5 percent.

Now there's a concept -- fairness. Now if only we heard such a word from more politicians. The whole op-ed is worth a read.

Health Coverage Options for NY

Approximately 2.5 million New Yorkers don't have health insurance. The number has been rising and will undoubtedly continue to rise as hundreds of thousands of jobs disappear in the current recession. Even those who remain employed risk losing their employer-sponsored plans as companies cut benefits or shift more costs to workers (and in the case of lower paid workers, the costs can become prohibitive).

A new study commissioned by the New York State Health Foundation and conducted by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University looked at five plans for expanding health care in New York that were proposed during statewide hearings last year. The plans examined in the study include:

• a single-payer or “Medicare-for-All” plan that would replace all current insurers with one, publicly financed system and provide comprehensive coverage to all State residents with no costsharing or deductibles;
• three different “building block” plans that would expand government-sponsored programs, create individual buy-in options, and include an option for individual mandates; and
• a market-oriented reform plan that would loosen State health insurance regulations, establish a high-risk pool, and expand private coverage mechanisms.

The single-payer plan would fully solve access to health care, but also is the most costly: roughly a net $5.8 billion increase to the New York State budget. The market-oriented plan would be the cheapest to New York -- $280 to $440 million -- but would make the smallest dent in the problem of uninsured.

CAVEATS from the report:

All of our estimates refer to what spending and coverage would have been in 2004 had these proposals been enacted at that time. They are not intended to be a forecast of future costs. Our simple model does not produce estimates of the distribution of cost across various stakeholders beyond government.

CAVEAT from me: you get what you pay for.

From ONE -- A Petition Worth Signing

The ONE Campaign e-mailed this today, and I encourage you all to sign the petition.

Dear ONE Member,

More than 100,000 ONE members signed our petition to Barack Obama, asking him to make a strong statement about global poverty in his inaugural address. And he did exactly that, saying:

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

Now it's time to send him a thank you note and encourage his ongoing commitment to the world's poorest citizens. Click [here] to send the thank you note to President Obama:

Although Obama came through for us—and for the 2 billion people globally who live on less than $2 a day—in his inaugural address, strong words are not enough. We must keep encouraging him to make sure critical, proven programs are not frozen or even cut in the upcoming budget battles, which may be difficult as the Administration tries to find resources for the domestic economic crisis.

HANYS Makes Its Point

Holy moley.

The Healthcare Association of New York State, which represents more than 550 non-profit and public hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies, and other health care organizations, is running this ad starting January 19th.




That is some major criticism of Governor Paterson's budget cuts. Over the top, or on target?

Says HANYS President Daniel Sisto:

“Health care services have already been cut twice this fiscal year by more than $1 billion, and now we’re facing another $5 billion in cuts over the next two years.

“Hospitals have been bled dry year after year by budget cuts and the failure of government payers to reimburse for the true cost of care. We simply can no longer do more with less. These cuts will mean we’ll have to do less with less, and that means the elimination of critical health care services such as cancer screenings and well-child clinics, reduced emergency room capacity, and in some instances, as we have seen too many times in the past, it could mean the outright closure of a hospital.

“Moreover, service reductions will yield staff reductions, which we have already begun seeing across the state. In the midst of an economic crisis, it makes no sense for the government to create job losses in the only economic sector that is viable in many communities. They are cutting services and jobs when we need them the most. It’s bad public policy times two...”

New York State is expected to be getting roughly $5 billion in federal Medicaid funding through the federal stimulus plan. I guess the ad is making the case for where HANYS wants it to go.

Thirty Day Amendments: A Raindrop in the Sea

Governor David A. Paterson released his 30-day amendments to the Executive Budget on Friday. According to his press release:

The amendments include $350,000 in financial resources for the Say Yes to Education Scholarship Program, which was proposed in Governor Paterson’s State of the State address. As part of a joint public/private partnership with Say Yes to Education Inc., a pilot initiative will be created to provide full scholarships that cover all college tuition and fee costs for eligible Syracuse City School District high school graduates who enroll in associate and baccalaureate programs at SUNY and CUNY institutions.

The amendments also include $1 million in funding for civil legal services for indigent plaintiffs.

It's something. but not much.

Citigroup is Splitsville

The latest from the corporation sitting on top of (literally) St. Peter Lutheran Church.

Citigroup Inc. on Friday announced its latest attempt to become profitable again: Splitting the bank into two pieces.

Citigroup — after suffering a loss of $8.29 billion, its fifth straight quarterly deficit — is reorganizing into Citicorp and Citi Holdings. The first will focus on traditional banking around the world, while the second will hold the company's riskier assets and tougher-to-manage ventures.

Well, well, it appears that Citigroup has Glass-Steagalled itself! There's a karmic lesson here somewhere. Except for all the innocent victims lying underneath their speculative rubble, that is.

Join Governor Paterson's Conference Call

Governor Paterson posted this on Daily Kos

...next Thursday evening, January 22nd, at 6pm EST, I will be holding a conference call and inviting everyone who has submitted a comment through my website. Over 1500 people have taken the initiative to write to me, and I want to attempt to address as many of the most-received comments and questions as I can.

But I also want to invite the members of this community to participate, because you have been as active and supportive as those who have written directly through my site, and I appreciate the insight that you have provided both myself and my staff.

So, if you are a DailyKos reader or commenter and would like to listen to my call (to be moderated by Daily Kos' ownNYBri, by the way), please go to the Your Voice page of my website and fill out the form. Simply mention Daily Kos in the comment area, so that we know where you came from.

We're also still taking additional questions, so if you have something you would like to know or hear discussed, please be sure to include it or post it in the comments.

On Wednesday, January 7th, I delivered by State of the State address and laid out my agenda for the year ahead. I want to continue that process by addressing the questions and providing additional details on my proposals directly to the people of New York and to the members of this community who have welcomed me so kindly.

I'll talk to you on Thursday. I hope that you can attend.
Best, Governor David A. Paterson

PS-- Because of line limitations, we're opening up participation to Kos readers only until Monday, January 19 at midnight PST; you'll get an email shortly before the call with call-in information. Click here to attend. Please recommend so that as many people as possible can see this.

I asked him to adjust income tax brackets. Why not go and put in your own two cents?

SCHIP House vote -- NY Sweep

For the record, every member of the New York Congressional Delegation (except for Rep. Meeks, who did not vote) voted for the SCHIP (in New York, it's known as Child Health Plus) expansion.

Last year, the two nay votes in our delegation were Reps. Reynolds (retired) and Kuhl (defeated). Reynolds' successor, Christopher Lee (R-District 26), voted for kids. Good for him.

What to Do About New York's Budget

The Fiscal Policy Institute's nineteenth annual budget briefing is now on-line in slide format.

See Balancing New York State's 2009-2010 Budget in an Economically Sensible Manner here.

Can There Be a "Functional" State Senate?

New Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith plans to unveil a list of reforms to Senate rules that he says will make the house more fair, transparent and effective. They include:

Tallied votes: The Senate will now record how all lawmakers vote on bill amendments and on motions to move bills from committees to the Senate floor. Before, only "yes" votes were tallied. The record did not distinguish between senators who voted "no," those who abstained or were absent. "These votes, which rarely if ever pass, protect members from going on record as failing to discharge a bill," authors of the Brennan Center report wrote.

Bill discharge: Senators will have the power to move bills, or "discharge" them, from a committee to the Senate floor after only 20 days, rather than the previous 60-day waiting period. Currently, "discharge motions are subject to stringent time restrictions that the chair holds the sole power to waive," according to the Brennan report. "Thus, it remains impossible to receive full consideration over the objection of the leadership even if enough support exists to pass a bill." From 2006 through 2008, not a single bill was successfully moved from committee to a floor vote, according to the Brennan Center.

Open sponsorship: Any senator will be able to co-sponsor bills without leadership approval. Previously, senators had to ask the majority leader for permission to sign on as a co-sponsor of a bill. Senate Democrats said that the when the GOP held the majority, Republicans rarely would let minority members co-sponsor major bills. Republicans had controlled the Senate for more than 40 years.

Further study: Smith also plans to create a bipartisan commission, comprised of four Democrats and two Republicans, to study Senate rules and find ways to make the legislative process more democratic and transparent. The group will hold public hearings and report its findings to Smith within the next few months.

Can the dysfuctional heal themselves? we'll see.

Congresswoman Slaughter Creates Upstate Caucus

Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY-28) has formed a new bipartisan Upstate New York Congressional Caucus. Its purpose is "to collectively advance issues that face upstate New York, such as reviving the local economy and bringing new well-paying jobs to the region."

Members of the caucus, in addition to Rep. Slaughter, are: John McHugh, R-23rd District; John Hall, D-19th District; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-20th District; Paul Tonko, D-21st District; Maurice Hinchey, D-22nd District; Michael Arcuri, D-24th District; Daniel Maffei, D-25th District; Christopher Lee, R-26th District; Brian Higgins, D-27th District; and Eric Massa, D-29th District.

Rep. Slaughter says in her press release:

"I am proud that all of my colleagues who represent Upstate New York are joining me in forming the Upstate New York Caucus," said Congresswoman Slaughter. "The region we represent faces a particularly challenging road ahead. The current economic crisis has compounded problems that have been developing in each of our districts for years. The purpose of this caucus will be to concentrate our abilities and work together, on both sides of the aisle, in the best interest of Upstate New York.

The 111th Congress will offer important opportunities to make the case for investing in Upstate New York. This is an essential opportunity, and one that we cannot approach passively or divided. It is critical that we work together to weather this financial storm. Upstate New York cannot afford to be left behind."

If your member of Congress is a part of the caucus, don't forget to remind them of who usually is "left behind" -- people in poverty. Poverty within prosperity is false prosperity. Poverty in hard times is everybody's problem.

State of the State: Advocates Begin to React

Today's e-mails bring reactions to Governor Paterson's State of the State address.

The Legal Action Center likes Governor Paterson's drug law proposal:

The Legal Action Center strongly supports Governor Paterson’s call in his State of the State speech for reform of New York’s Rockefeller Drug Laws and the expansion of chemical dependence treatment services. Paul Samuels, Director and President of the Legal Action Center states, “Governor Paterson has shown strong leadership in recognizing that addiction should be separated from criminality, judges should have the discretion to send addicted individuals to treatment instead of prison, and chemical dependence treatment should be expanded. New York’s drug laws deprive children of their parents, waste enormous human and financial resources, and fail to address effectively the addiction that underlies most drug offenses. Studies have shown that treatment is more effective at reducing serious crimes committed against people and property by drug addicted individuals than mandatory minimum sentences.”

A study just released by the Legal Action Center shows that drug law reform will also save New York over a quarter billion dollars a year. According to the study, when drug law reform is fully operational, New York will save $267,660,000 a year. Over 3,600 individuals a year could be diverted. Anita Marton, Vice President with the Legal Action Center and principal author of the study, stated, “Reform of the Rockefeller-era drug laws is a win-win situation for justice system, for the people of the State of New York and for individuals whose criminality is driven at least in part by their addiction. New York State cannot afford not to reform the drug laws.”

Legal Services organizations are not happy:

Anne Erickson, president and CEO of the Empire Justice Center, speaking on behalf of the Legal Services Funding Alliance, a coalition of the 20 legal services programs outside of New York City, said:

... the Governor’s complete elimination of civil legal services funding in his budget, especially at this urgent time of need, runs counter to his personal record of advocating for poor, disabled and distressed New Yorkers, as well as, his message today that recognized the need for community service programs,” Erickson continued.

“We know Gov. Paterson has been a strong advocate for access to justice and the delivery of legal assistance to those most in need, and today said that the best
ethical decisions lead to the best policy decisions. We agree and urge the Governor to heed his own words and make the right ethical and policy decision by restoring critical CLS funding, at least to last year’s level.”

(Last year state funding for civil legal services was reduced 55% Additionally, there is a continuing attempt to cut current year funding through the deficit budget which calls for a 44% cut to any unspent funding in the 2008-09 budget.)

Citizen Action isn't happy either:

[The Governor] talked eloquently about the burden that many New Yorkers are feeling in the face of our economic problems, but he is missing the simplest solution to putting our state's economy back on track: increasing taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers.

In recent years, tax cuts for New York's richest have led to the state losing over $17 billion a year in revenue. With our state facing a $15 billion deficit in the coming fiscal year, it's critical that we bring some common sense back to the tax code: let's pass Fair Share Tax Reform.

Fair Share Tax Reform is simple. If you earn more than $250,000 a year, then you'll pay a little more in taxes. This could earn the state over $5 billion in additional revenue!

New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness puts it into context:

We are concerned however, about the contradictions between the Governor’s wish list in his speech and the actions in his budget proposal. The Governor wants more New Yorkers to go to college but increases tuition at state universities, makes TAP harder to get for working parents, and cuts aid to community colleges making it harder for many to access higher education. He wants to increase the quality of education yet significantly cuts funding for schools this year and next. He wants more New Yorkers to have access to healthcare but cuts funding to hospitals, nursing homes and home visiting programs. He wants to create jobs but the massive cuts he has proposed will simply put more New Yorkers out of work. He is simply ignoring macro-economic principles.

Recently, over 100 Economists from around the state urged the Governor to adopt a balanced approach to closing the state deficit. They suggest that an income tax increase on the wealthiest would be less harmful to the state's economy then massive cuts to state spending. They posit that we need to keep as much money in the local economy as possible in order to effectively get out of this recession and close the budget gap. In March of 2008, Joseph Stiglitz, the Chair of the Governor’s Panel of Economic Advisors ( and 2001 Nobel Prize Winning Economist) stated the same message as the economist mentioned above. They are not alone! Poll after poll clearly indicates that the public overwhelmingly supports restoring progressivity to the Personal Income Tax by increasing the top tax rates on the wealthy.

A comprehensive solution means that all New Yorkers need to help solve this problem and that the wealthiest among us have an even greater obligation to contribute. While the Governor talks about shared sacrifice he seems to be practicing spared sacrifice. The governor says that he fears that wealthy New Yorkers will leave the state if we increase income taxes on the rich. It did not happen in 2003 and will not happen in 2009. We believe what will drive people out of NYS is a reduction in the quality of life for many working families in NYS that could be avoided by asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share of taxes.

State of the State: Annotated Excerpts

Here are excerpts from Governor Paterson’s State of the State address today that jump out at me. Analysis is forthcoming, especially as the particulars of the proposals become evident. I have inserted my initial reactions in italics within brackets.

Health Care

An estimated 225,000 New Yorkers could lose their jobs in this recession, so many of them may also lose their health insurance. That is why expanding access to health care is more important than ever.

Last year, we expanded our program to cover every child in New York. This year we will partner with Washington to cover an additional 400,000 New Yorkers. We will pay for this by asking Washington to let us use the Medicaid savings we have already achieved.

[And with an Obama administration, this is more likely. For many years, Medicaid has been one way the federal government addressed the fact that New Yorkers pay a lot more into the federal government than they receive from it. Thus our Medicaid program has traditionally been larger than most states – but it was one way (however imperfect, what with state and local matches – that we drew down federal dollars]

However, one in three New Yorkers from the ages of 19 to 29 are still uninsured. This is unacceptable. That is why I will propose a bill allowing families to cover family members up to the age of 29 in their family coverage plans at their own cost.

[Very interesting… we’ll need to see how it works for families]

We must systematically remove the barriers until we can enroll every New Yorker who is eligible for publicly-funded coverage.

[Expanding eligibility in programs such as Family Health Plus would be a good move also.]

Education

Another way we can protect our children and build a brighter future is to ensure that every child in New York receives a good education.

This current crisis should teach us that the only way to restore our long-term economic competitiveness is to build the world’s best system of education.

We can do it, but we have a long way to go. Today, three in ten New Yorkers do not graduate from high school and don’t even have a chance to go to college. The numbers are even worse for children of color and children from low-income families.

We must do better. We must ensure that every child is prepared for college — and that every child can afford to go…

I have always fought for more resources for our schools. The road to economic competitiveness and renewal runs right through our schools. However, during this downturn, we simply cannot spend more — so we must spend more effectively.

[The Governor’s budget proposal slows down the multi-year funding to high-need school districts pursuant to the CFE decision, but many high-need schools have long been in crisis themselves.]

Economic Development

… Most importantly, we must lower the cost of doing business in New York. Property taxes are too high. We should cap them. State mandates are too burdensome. We should relieve them. Local government is too costly. We should help it become more efficient. We should act on the recommendations of the Commissions on Property Tax Relief and Local Government Efficiency.

[Capping property taxes evokes the disaster of California passing Prop 13 in the 1970’s. Public schools were never the same. And not a word about adjusting our disgracefully flattened income tax rates.]

Community

Just as we invest in the programs that are working, we must also address the strategies that are not working. Few public safety initiatives have failed as badly and for as long as the Rockefeller Drug Laws. These laws did not work when I was elected Senator in 1985, and they do not work today.

We enacted modest reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws in 2004. Yet these reforms still did not go far enough to expand the availability of drug treatment programs, allow judges to order low-level offenders into mandatory treatment, and assure that prisons are used for the most serious drug offenders.

At the end of this month, the New York State Commission on Sentencing Reform will deliver its report. I look forward to reviewing the Commission’s recommendations in partnership with the members of the Legislature. Together, we should move forward to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws — and institute a smart, safe and effective approach that keeps drugs off our streets.

[Hallelujah! We’ve wasted more money and lives on what was essentially (in my opinion) a political gimmick by a “liberal” Republican Governor intent on ingratiating himself with his party’s conservative base. The drug laws were supposed to go after “drug kingpins,” but fell most heavily on the small-timers who didn’t have the knowledge or connections to bargain with prosecutors.]

Your New State Senate Leadership

Since the "Gang of Three" (Sens. Carl Kruger from Brooklyn, Ruben Diaz and Pedro Espada from the Bronx, who had threatened to bolt the party) joined the Democratic Conference meeting, the new Democratic Senate majority begins. This means new committee chairs. Here they are:

Committee Assignments:
Senator Eric Adams: Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs
Senator Joseph Addabbo, Jr.: Elections
Senator Darrel Aubertine: Agriculture
Senator Neil Breslin: Insurance
Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr.: Aging
Senator Martin Malave Dilan: Transportation
Senator Tom Duane: Health
Senator Pedro Espada, Jr: Vice President of the Senate for Urban Policy; Vice Chair, Rules Committee, Chair, Housing Construction and Community Development
Senator Brian X. Foley: Ethics
Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson: Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections
Senator Shirley Huntley: Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities
Senator Craig Johnson: Investigations and Government Operations
Senator Jeff Klein: Deputy Majority Leader
Senator Liz Krueger: Vice Chair Finance, Chair of Select Committee on Budget Reform
Senator Carl Kruger: Finance
Senator Hiram Monserrate: Consumer Protection
Senator Velmanette Montgomery: Children and Families
Senator George Onorato: Labor
Senator Suzi Oppenheimer: Education
Senator Kevin Parker: Energy and Telecommunications
Senator Bill Perkins: Corporations, Authorities and Commissions
Senator John Sampson: Judiciary
Senator Diane Savino: Civil Service and Pensions
Senator Eric Schneiderman: Codes
Senator Jose Serrano, Jr.: Tourism, Recreation and Sports Development
Senator Daniel Squadron: Cities
Senator William Stachowski: Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business
Senator Toby Ann Stavisky: Higher Education
Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins: Local Government
Senator Antoine Thompson: Environmental Conservation

Legislature Doesn't Work Well -- Who Knew?

How we live here in Albany:

A university study finds Albany is still dysfunctional after all these years.

The nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law says New York's legislative committees are woefully weak and advance little original legislation. The center finds the committees hold almost no debates and few hearings, but simply approve overwhelmingly the measures allowed by each house's leaders.

The Brennan Center, in a report examining the state Senate and Assembly in 2006 and 2007, says the state's legislative process "remains broken." The center famously tagged New York's Legislature the most dysfunctional state legislative body in the nation in 2004.

Most of us didn't need a university study to confirm this, by the way.

God Bless Us, Everyone

Last year's Scrooginess from Governor Paterson seems to be shifting. As the the financial sector in New York dissolved throughout 2008, the Governor made sure everyone, including the hungriest, pulled in their belts. $5 million in emergency funding to food banks provided by Governor Spitzer flew off the table. Then $490,000 was cut in April, Then $1,217,000 was cut in the August special session.

It's not a big program. Even though the late Senator Everett Dirkson (R-IL) is supposed to have said "a million dollars here, a million dollars there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money," he said it back when a million dollars was worth, well, a million dollars. In short, cutting the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP) was just bone-headed or mean.

But there is good news in Albany. Three spirits apparently have visited:

As demand for food assistance has grown to an all-time high in New York, Gov. David Paterson announced Tuesday a $1 million emergency increase in funding for regional food banks across New York.

And the Governor recognizes the ongoing horror:

The demand faced by food pantries and soup kitchens has increased by 35 percent this year, said Paterson. "People who never thought that they would want of food or shelter are endangered" in a way that hasn't been seen since the Great Depression, he said.

Paterson said he hopes the additional funds will help agencies until next year's budget takes effect April 1. The governor proposed a $4.4 million increase in funding for food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters for a total of $30.9 million in the 2009-10 budget.

We're getting close to 2007 levels, but we have a ways to go. Like $1,360,000, if you count all the cuts.