In declaring that a state budget deal — albeit a tardy and undercooked one — was finally at hand, Gov. Hochul was oddly flanked at her Thursday afternoon press conference not by the Legislature’s leaders, but only Lieutenant Gov. Brian Benjamin and her own aides. It made for an unusual scene.
But the $220.5 billion deal she unveiled is business as usual.
The announced agreement is replete with corporate boondoggles, giveaways to big labor and billions in new spending subject to recur and grow in future years — despite the governor’s insistence that it’s mostly one-shot expenditures.
That’s a bit like an alcoholic telling you it’s their one last drink.
Read the full commentary in the Daily News.
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