ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Cuomo stunned Albany on the eve of his much anticipated budget address today by condemning as a “sham” the entire budget process as it has been practiced for decades.
The Democratic executive declared in a bombshell op-ed this morning that the state would face a $1 billion or $2 billion deficit – instead of the $10 billion repeatedly cited by his own budget officials – if not for countless laws engineered by special interests to increase spending year after year.
Rates and spending formulas as they have been put on the books by generations of lobbyists and complicit legislators, Cuomo said, put the state on course for 13 percent spending hike next year – even before he starts to cut.
The system “mirrors the deceptive practices” of Wall Street banks and sets up for failure governors who would dare to seek spending cuts, he said. They must start by cutting the rate of increase, before they can cut the bottom line.
“When a governor takes office, in many ways the die has been cast,” Cuomo said. “This is the system that has brought New York to the brink, and it is why we are the highest ‘spending-and-taxing’ state in the nation with programs that fail to perform for the people. This all must end.”
Cuomo, who is required to formally unveil tomorrow his 2011-12 spending plan, said the state should plan spending based on “objective, fair criteria,” like program enrollment, the rate of inflation and personal income growth.
“Albany must give up its insistence on pleasing the special interests rather than serving the people,” Cuomo said. “This is the real budget battle that I will wage this year. We must balance this year’s budget but we must also reform the process so that the cycle finally stops.”