Gov. Paterson, not surprisingly, has decided to cower in a corner as New York barrels toward a California-style fiscal meltdown. Will anyone in Albany grab the wheel?
Paterson’s behavior in the face of the state’s $3 billion mid-year deficit has been typical.
First, he insisted that legislative leaders say how they’d close the gap. Lawmakers, uh, declined.
Now, as Post State Editor Fredric U. Dicker reported yesterday, Paterson’s readying a menu of potential cuts for lawmakers to choose from.
Dicker reports that the gov wants the Legislature to take the hit for unpopular cuts, leaving him better positioned to run for election next year. In reality, the move only reconfirms his irrelevance.
Meanwhile, someone needs to take charge — and fast. As the days slip by, there’s less time to stem the bleeding; budget cuts inflict less pain if spread over, say, five months rather than three.
Plus, officials project gaps of $7 billion next year and $13 billion the year after, as federal stimulus money dries up.
In any event, the state is mere months away from sending IOUs to vendors — the first sign of looming insolvency.
Will Albany act in time?
Actually, this sounds like a job for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
He’s led the state on key issues before; maybe he’ll rise to the occasion again.
Yes, it’s a scary thought. Silver has long been beholden to the unions and other special interests. He’s fully culpable in the long string of tax-and-spend budgets that have dogged the state.
But the chaos in the Senate and the Executive Chamber have rendered him the most “responsible” of Albany’s top budgeteers. Silver could corral his members to get behind a slate of cuts that would dominate the debate.
Will Silver ride to the rescue?
Will anyone?
Stay tuned.