ALBANY — A frustrated Gov. Paterson yesterday boldly asked the Legislature for one-time emergency powers to unilaterally slash state spending — and said if lawmakers don’t have the guts to make tough fiscal decisions, he certainly does.
Paterson’s challenge came after nearly three weeks of effort by the governor to win agreement on a plan cutting state spending by $3 billion in order to head off a potential bankruptcy.
Without such dramatic action, Paterson has warned, the state will run out of money sometime next month.
A spokesman for state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said “a crunch” would occur on Dec. 15, when the state would owe local school districts two sets of aid payments totaling more than $4 billion.
The move won Paterson praise from business leaders, former Gov. Hugh Carey and Mayor Bloomberg, who said the governor was right to shake the Legislature into action.
“The people of New York have waited long enough,” said Paterson, who has warned that he may be forced to lay off state workers or halt payments to local government and school districts if the cuts aren’t made.
“Cut this deficit with me or I will do it myself,” he said.
“If the Legislature is unwilling to make the necessary cuts, I will. If the Legislature is unwilling to do what needs to be done, I will. If the Legislature is unwilling to endure the criticism and consequences, I will.
“All I ask the Legislature for is to take the same action that so many hardworking New Yorkers are taking every day: Make the tough decisions,” he said.
Paterson sent a bill to the Legislature, whose 212 members are all up for re-election next year, asking for such powers — along with a second measure scaling back cuts he included in an earlier draft of his “deficit reduction plan.”
That original proposal drew strong objections from his fellow Democrats, as well as from Republicans, because it would have slashed state education and health-care spending by $1.3 billion.
The new version — which was quickly praised by lawmakers, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) — eased the proposed education cuts by more than half, to $295 million, partly through the use of federal stimulus money that had been earmarked for next year’s budget.
In addition, the health-care cuts would cost the state’s hospitals and nursing homes only about $282 million, not the $740 million — in state and federal aid — that would have resulted from the governor’s first proposal.
“You’ve got to give the governor some credit,” said Bloomberg. “He is trying to plug the hole that they have. He’s trying to address the issues.
“Whether he’s doing it the right way or the wrong way, unless you come to the table with your own proposals, it sort of leaves flat that people would criticize,” he continued, adding, “I think the governor has been a leader here.”
Kathy Wylde, of the Partnership for New York City, said the business community gave the plan a thumbs-up and added that Paterson had demonstrated “political courage unlike any we have seen in Albany for some time” by his willingness to “take the heat for making the budget cuts that are required to save New York state’s credit rating.”
The Association for a Better Long Island also chimed in, with President Mitchell Rechler saying, “Give ’em hell, David!”
State lawmakers, however, reacted coolly to Paterson’s request for special powers. Senate Democratic leader John Sampson, of Brooklyn, and Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos, of Nassau County, jointly said the measure wouldn’t fly.
Silver called the governor’s proposal for extra budget powers “irrelevant at this point” because “we’re not going to consider it at this point.”
“I don’t think the members will shirk their responsibilities, give up their responsibilities,” he said.
“I didn’t poll the members, but the expressions I’ve heard them give would indicate that they don’t look kindly on it.”
Several Democratic assemblymen were quick to confirm that.
Rory Lancman, of Queens, quipped, “What’s next, martial law?” while Jack McEneny, of Albany, said, “This happens all the time — in Venezuela.”