Gov. Paterson began vetoing budget bills last night after lawmakers callously thumbed their noses at him, his plan and, by extension, all New Yorkers.
Indeed, they actually left the pages of his legislation sitting ignored on the floor — and went off recklessly to add hundreds of millions to their spending plan.
That left the gov little choice but to whip out his veto pen and brace for new talks, even as he’d hoped to finalize a budget by today, once and for all.
Yes, it was blow for Paterson — and for New York. But his vetoes may stem the damage. Besides, what he’s accomplished so far isn’t easily erased.
Faced with a seemingly intractable impasse, Paterson offered his own budget Friday, giving lawmakers a stark choice: Approve it, or shut government.
Instead, they shunned it — and drafted their own plan, adding the new spending and scrapping several of his key proposals, such as a property-tax-hike cap.
But Paterson, unexpectedly, has already proved that an engaged governor can drive Albany’s agenda to a fair degree.
Just a few weeks ago, after all, some feared the state would go without a budget until after November’s elections. As of now, much of the budget is in place — and state government avoided a shutdown. Paterson deserves much credit.
Sure, we have qualms with parts of the budget that appear likely to stick — assorted tax hikes, for example, and hardly any real effort to rein in spending. You can bet we’ll have more to say on that as the process moves forward.
But Paterson has been on the right side — and fighting hard for weeks against a feckless lot. That’s worth something.