Opinion

The cry of the cowardly pol

It’s nearly three weeks before Gov. Cuomo presents his first budget, and the protectors of entrenched Albany fiefdoms are already squawking.

Exhibits 1 and 1a: Senate Higher Education Committee Chairman Kenneth LaValle and his Assembly counterpart, Deborah Glick.

They’re horrified — horrified! — that Cuomo’s budget address is likely to include a tuition increase for New York’s public universities.

LaValle, as predictable as the sunrise, urges Albany to continue “investing” in SUNY and CUNY, since they are supposed economic engines that ultimately create jobs.

And Glick, like a tedious metronome, drones on about how lowered student aid will wreck New York.

As if the state isn’t already on the rocks.

But why are LaValle and Glick raising the issue now — so far in advance of the budget?

Easy: They want students, parents and educators riled up now, making it so much easier to get them marching to Albany — or wherever a TV camera can be found — when Cuomo does deliver the document.

No one — including Andrew Cuomo, we’d wager — wants tuition to go up.

And maybe there won’t be any hikes.

But what are the alternatives?

The governor has to figure out how to close a $10 billion deficit.

With that reality, no program or agency can be considered sacrosanct if New York is to avoid bankruptcy.

This fiscal condition hardly amounts to news: The red ink has been growing for more than a year now.

LaValle and Glick have both been around Albany for a long time. How much better it would be for all concerned if they used their seniority to demonstrate some real leadership: Instead of defending an unaffordable status quo, they could work with students, parents and CUNY and SUNY officials to help prepare for the inevitable.

But rabble-rousing is more fun and pays better — come campaign-contribution time.