ALBANY is beyond hope — and every one knows it.
Corruption’s rampant. No one gives a fig about taxpayers.
The governor’s MIA, the Senate’s overrun by boodlers and bunglers. The Assembly? Bought and paid for.
No wonder the state’s $10 billion in the red. And yet . . .
This may just be the year we hit rock bottom — and start the climb back up.
Hey, how much worse can it get?
True, Albany’s famous for plumbing depths no one knew existed. The governor stands accused of snatching World Series tickets. His predecessor was caught, literally, with his pants down. Our ex-Senate boss, a convicted influence-peddler.
One state senator can’t account for money meant for Katrina victims and kids’ sports teams, while a former senator slashed his girlfriend’s face.
But that’s just it: The horrific mess may fuel real change for a change. For the first time in memory, some of our pols may be feeling (dare we think?) . . . accountable. With the state on the brink, their seats may be on the brink.
Already, Gov. Paterson’s already thrown in the towel in the race for governor. And this week, a Democrat — Suffolk County Exec Steve Levy — is turning Republican to run as a staunch fiscal hawk.
In the Senate, the loss of just two Dems would hand control to the GOP. In the Assembly, Dems (particularly in the ‘burbs and upstate) are seeing the disgust felt by overtaxed voters, many long out of work — while public-sector employees enjoy protected jobs, pay hikes and generous benefits.
November’s tax revolt — which toppled Democratic county execs in Westchester and Nassau, among others — sent a wake-up call that reverberates yet. Last month, the GOP won key Assembly races, picking up seats in Suffolk and Westchester.
What do voters think? Some 70 percent, a recent Siena polls says, see the state headed down the wrong path — the highest level in the poll’s history. Folks “have had it with Albany,” poll spokesman Steven Greenberg says.
US Sen. Scott Brown’s upset win in liberal Massachusetts amplified the message nationwide. Yet in Washington, Dems are pressing ahead with a monster health-care bill over the public’s objections. How will voters, even in Democratic New York, react to that?
No wonder there’s talk among GOP state senators, I’m told, of a united push for a simple new plan: Control taxes and spending, and create jobs. One game-changing idea: a public-sector wage freeze, including — if need be — the abrogation of collective-bargaining contracts. Another: massive regulatory reform — ditching “every single regulation” on the books, unless a truly compelling case can be made to keep it.
There are signs of a Republican break with the health-care cartel. GOP senators, for instance, want to restore background checks for Medicaid, to prevent fraud and control costs. They’re hammering out “structural reforms” to rein in the program, which spends $1 billion a week — i.e., $100,000 every minute, 24/7/365.
Voters are watching, Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos tells me. And while the party’s gone “in the wrong direction” in the past, he insists that this time “we’ve found our footing.”
Republicans “will not vote for anything that raises income taxes, spending or debt,” he vows.
Sure, it’s just talk right now. Heck, the GOP has no formal power anywhere in Albany. Yet with elections nearing, nervous Dems may feel pressed to meet the challenge. (One key test: Will the final budget include any sizable tax hikes?)
No, don’t bet on seeing a reformed Albany any time soon. Incumbents have a 98-plus percent re-election rate. Just this month, 16 self-assured Democratic senators (half their conference) told Paterson that — taxpayers be damned — they’re sticking with the teachers union; despite the $10 billion cash shortfall, they won’t back “any cuts to education.”
But there is a ray of hope. And, in any event, if the tax-and-spenders prevail, this time they may well sink the state.
Change will come to New York, one way or another. abrodsky@nypost.com