Syndicated Column 4-12-04
By Alan Chartock

The sad truth is that most people seem to know nothing about the state Legislature. We all think our representatives are good and everyone else in the Senate and Assembly is a bum. This isn’t democracy - it’s a shell game.
The Legislature invents procedures and language designed to keep people out. The folks who have the most money “pay to play” and the rest of the people haven’t a clue about how things work. The only thing people think they know about the Legislature is that every year it passes a late budget. The only reason they know that is because the tired media that covers the Legislature makes such a big deal about it every year. To put it mildly, “Ugh.” I am sick to death of it.
Yes, a late budget can be disastrous for the agencies of government and schools that are held hostage. The problem is, though, that with all that’s wrong with the system, the only thing people talk about is the late budget.
Every year, it’s the same circus. A budget that could be passed on day one is passed only when everyone is ready to pass out. It all comes down to money. Most politicians spend a good deal of time convincing people to give them the money they will need to run their campaigns. People who give you thousands and millions of dollars [one way or the other] want something for their money. Thus, both sides [the Republican Senate and the Democratic Assembly] as well as the governor, have to show off for the people who gave them the money.
What could be better than arguing about the budget? You do not have to go to Broadway for contrived drama. Just watch Speaker Sheldon Silver duke it out with Senate Majority Leader “Gentle-man” Joe Bruno.
It doesn’t stop there. If you don’t fund the government, someone will have to lend school districts and others enough money to keep things going. Those somebodies do not lend money for free. Someone has to choose who will loan the money and make out like a bandit. Then the lenders will be expected to kick in to help reelect those folks who helped them.
In the meantime, every now and then someone like Republican Assemblyman James Tedisco will come up with an original idea about how to punish politicians who don’t pass an on-time budget. The last great hoax was an agreement that no one would get paid until the budget passed. What a bunch of horse manure. There was no accountability - all that happened was that the legislators got every cent of the money once the budget passed. They weren’t docked a dime.
To keep the people off the scent about what is really going on they are now talking about reforming the process. Idea number one seems to be postponing the inevitable and making the date that the budget needs to be passed later on in the year. Pretty stupid, since the post-adolescents still will play chicken and put on their show no matter when the budget is supposed to be passed. Every minute you wait, of course, will put the school districts and others into even more hot water since the same fighting that now happens in and around April will now occur in and around the later due dates.
The other idea is to use last year’s budget figures until this year’s is passed. The conservatives love this one since you will force school districts and others to lay off teachers who have been promised well-earned salary increases. If you can’t get that money together you have to fire staff just to stay even. In other words, this idea stinks, too.
It is also true that there are times when people like Democratic Speaker Silver insists that people get a fair break or he won’t pass the budget. The same thing is sometimes true about Republican Majority Leader Bruno who really stuck it in Gov. George E. Pataki’s eye last year about funding school districts.
This year, the stock market has done all right. That means some unexpected revenues for the state and a fight over how to spend the money that you didn’t think you were going to have. One way or the other, this nonsense about a late budget comes around once a year.


- posted by Alan @ 4/15/2004 05:51:00 PM