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"Three men in a room" budget devastates Upstate; Who's our hero to stop it?
March 30, 2009

The Partnership and the larger Upstate employer community (thru Unshackle Upstate) have been sending warning signals for some time about the dark political storms coming closer and closer to our already fragile communities and economies:

• At the end of last summer, when legislative leaders did not agree to the Governor's call for a special session to deal with the quickly deteriorating '09 state budget;
• Following the outcome of last November's state legislative elections which put Albany completely under the control of downstate Democrats;
• In February, when the Governor/legislature passed a so-called "deficit reduction plan" for '09, which, among other poor decisions relied on increased health care and energy costs to you and "sweeps" of funds in various state departments.

And, as forecast, the full brunt of that political storm is about to hit us hard in the form of the 2010 state budget negotiated by a politically weak, appointed Governor and two downstate legislative leaders clearly and completely representing special interest groups.
 
Here's how the "three men in a room" have chosen to make Upstate New York more uncompetitive than it already is:

• A $10.5 billion increase in spending over last year's budget;
• A three-year income tax surcharge on small businesses;
• An additional $230MM in new taxes on health insurance on top of over $500MM added in February's deficit-reduction package;
• Surcharges on gas and electric utility companies that the industry says will end up costing consumers at least $500 million.

In all, New Yorkers will pay around $7 billion in new or increased taxes and fees next year. But what the "three men in a room" didn't do is just as bad:

• No Tier V pension for public employees, which would've shown some will to reform how the state does business;
• No real reform of a broken Empire Zone program - a wasted opportunity to spur economic development at a time we most need it;
• Not even the beginning of program and personnel reforms to structurally balance the state budget in ways already implemented in a host of other states, and in the private sector;
• Not one penny of cuts of their own spending - staffing, salaries, member items ("pork").

So who's benefitting from this budget? Not our children, as more and more funding for public education has yet to generate improved academic achievement. Not those on public assistance, who will not be able to escape it as jobs in the private sector will become even scarcer and scarcer. Not small biz owners facing a host of tax increases and new/higher fees. Not citizen taxpayers who will be forced to add to their household budgets new/higher fees on everything from their electric bill to life insurance. Seemingly, only union leaders who spent millions of dollars on scary, inaccurate TV and print advertising seem to have benefited - at the expense of their members, who will have to pony up and pay the state like everyone else.
 
In the real world, we would call someone who stands up to this ill-advised and especially ill-timed budget a "responsible adult." In Albany, we will refer to that person as a "hero." We desperately need that hero now - someone who is willing to stand up to three people - the Governor, the Speaker and the Majority Leader - and say "not on my watch." We've identified five Upstate Majority senators who have not only the clout to stop this budget, but also the reason to do so on behalf of their constituents: our own Bill Stachowski and Antoine Thompson, with David Valesky (Syracuse), Darrel Aubertine (Watertown) and Neil Breslin (Albany). Now's the time to let them know how vital it is to Upstate New York's economy that this "three men in a room"-crafted budget DOES NOT PASS.
 
We've set up a VoterVoice for you to send a message to these five Upstate senators, urging them not to allow this budget to inflict the harm it promises by voting against it. In addition, I urge you to go beyond e-mail and contact our Buffalo Niagara senators' offices by phone to emphasize the message. They can be reached at:
 
Sen. William Stachowski: District Office - 826-3344/Albany Office - 518-455-2426
Sen. Antoine Thompson: District Office - 854-8705/Albany Office - 518-455-3371
 
Who's going to be our hero?
 

Andrew J. Rudnick