New York’s budget gap is not just a number. It is a number that seems to have more and more zeros behind it every few months, a dizzying figure that has grown so much and so fast that Gov. David A. Paterson is running out of ways to convey his anxi Read More
When Gov. David Paterson sat before Congress yesterday to plea for assistance with the state’s rapidly distending budget coffers, he blamed Washington for the dire situation. “The failure of our federal regulatory system has caused too many innoc Read More
A final word -- for now -- on how much State Senate and Assembly members spend on their office operations. The Empire Center for Public Policy did a ranking for the six-month period ending March 31 of this year. Here's a summary of the findings, b Read More
It was the kind of big-spending Albany mentality that drives Gov. David A. Paterson crazy these days. In 2004, after the governor proposed some $600 million in cuts to the state budget, the Senate minority leader said he had a better idea. The $42 Read More
ALBANY — Malcolm A. Smith, the minority leader of the State Senate, is promising something drastic, by Albany standards, if Democrats win control of the chamber on Tuesday. He wants to share power with rank-and-file lawmakers. Whether he will fo Read More
Much has been made in the current presidential campaign about the way that Barack Obama’s tax plans would redistribute money among income groups. But changes in tax policy also redistribute income geographically, because states and regions have dif Read More
Newsday had a story the other day about a $30 billion drop in state pension funds that includes a paragraph I find staggering: (State Comptroller) DiNapoli announced in early September that the average contribution rate for state and local governm Read More