Henry J. Stern
July 20, 2007
We have delayed writing for the last two days in order to
see what emerges from Albany. So far, the picture is incomplete and
the legislation anticipated to resolve the impasses has not yet been presented,
although it will be. We read that a there is a major accord in the
works, which will involve congestion pricing, campaign finance, salary increases
for legislators and judges, possibly DNA extensions, and perhaps a few players
yet to be chosen. We will watch the action with you.
The Assembly failed to return July 16, the widely proclaimed "drop dead date"
for federal transit assistance, before which we were told by a collection
of nobodies that we would not receive a sou unless we jumped on that day.
The Senate met and adjourned that Monday. Both bodies will reconvene
when their leaders are ready to present the package for them to ratify. That
they will do.
We are four days past the supposedly immutable deadline. Monday, July
23, we will be seven days late, and we do not know at this time whether
the entire package of pre-digestesd legislation will be ready to be dropped
on the members' desks by then. With a message of necessity from the governor,
a bill can, however, become law overnight. That procedure is
usually reserved for unpopular or special interest legislation, which the
powers that be desire to see adopted with little or no public input.
We don't want to comment on the relative public standing of the major players
at this point in the game. Reputations go up and down, sometimes quickly,
depending on the course of events. There is a saying in politics that
the only two bad stories for a politician are indictment or child-molesting.
Connecticut has had both. As of July 2007, the "most dysfunctional
legislature in the country" has done little to gain public regard. We
respond, "Cum spira, spera", while there is life, there is hope. The odd
part is that the great majority of them are relatively decent people..
Despite the uncertainty of the outcome, there are, nonetheless, several conclusions
that we can reach after the experience of the last six months.
One is that Eliot Spitzer will not become President of the United States,
and he should concentrate on being as good a governor as he can be.
Two is that if the Democrats win the Senate in 2008, the legislature will
be an even greater problem for the Mr. Spitzer than it is today.
It is not a rule, but the relevant phrase is "Be careful what you wish for,
lest it come true."
Our third conclusion is that, with regard to congestion pricing, Sheldon
Silver is not being an obstructionist for personal or political reasons.
He is reflecting the views of his conference (the Democratic members of the
assembly). Shelly protects his members from the wrath of editorial writers,
and that is an element in their loyalty to him. Four is that the congestion
pricing commission should have at least two research staffs, because so many
minds are closed on the subject,and different points of view should be presented
if they have validity. There are questions involved here beyond boundaries
and prices. They include civil liberties, the effect of millions of
photographs of automobiles in government hands, and people's rights, if any,
to travel on the streets of their city without paying for the privilege..
.
We believe that there are anti-car forces in America and elsewhere that despise
the automobile as much as they do the cigarette, the gun or the fat molecule.
These modern prohibitionists would have them all these pleasures banned
if they could. Those of us who share their distaste for cigarettes,
unlicensed guns and trans-fats will have to think about how much of our remaining
freedom we are willing to deed over to the nanny state. We find it
intriguing that First Amendment advocates who support free speech and civil
disobedience aand generally oppose government action seem unconcerned when
the state attempts to impose new controls over peoples' lives..
New York does not ban cigarettes, we simply tax them, unless they are sold
by Native Americans. New York will notn't ban driving into Manhattan,
it is proposed that we simply charge $8 for the privilege. (Remember, the
income tax started in 1913, as a result of the 16th Amendment, at the rate
of one to seven per cent.) Imposing an entry fee to the Emerald City will
necessarily have a disproportionate impact on the poor, but perhaps they
don't belong in Manhattan anyway, certainly not on weekdays when they should
be working. If they do want to visit their betters, they can take the
subway.
The Daily News in its July 18 editorial included Governor Spitzer for the
first time along with its traditional public enemies, Senator Bruno and Speaker
Silver. This is a change of pace from the News, which months ago supported
Spitzer enthusiastically in his struggles with Bruno and Silver.
On Wednesday, a huge cartoon depicted the Speaker, the Senator and the Governor
as three blind mice, complete with canes and tails. The caricatures
are artfully drawn by Ed Murawinski, who depicted the Speaker holding a large
wedge of Swiss cheese while sneering, the white haired Bruno, a smaller figure,
holding his jacket, and the Governor with his left hand in his pants pocket.
All three had long whiskers, and thin tails. In the background is a
large edifice, presumably the state capitol. Silver is the dominant
figure in the cartoon, which has been posted on the News website.
The lengthy page 7 editorial in Wendesday's paper is somewhat fevered,
but who are we to complain. You can link to it under its headline:
3
BLIND MICE RUN N.Y. INTO GROUND. Even the governor, a hero to reformers,
is described by the News as "no more useful than a spectator at a clumsy
execution."
Two days later, there was a change in the weather. Maybe the publisher
called. Maybe he didn't. The Friday, July 20 Daily News
headline on the wood on p1 issues a warning:" CHARGING AHEAD; Get Ready
to Pay to Drive AND Get Set for Fare Hike." Two related stories appear
on pp 8-9., one by
Joe
Mahoney and Kirsten Danis, describing the progress on congestion pricing,
and the other by
Pete
Donohue, telling us that "The MTA will put fare and toll hikes on the
table next week in its preliminary 2008 budget...".
Further on in today's News, the
editorial
on p30 tells us that "In the end the leaders displayed the courage to move
toward radically altering who pays what to enter or simply to drive in the
heart of Manhattan on weekdays." It took just two days for the "three
blind mice" to turn into "leaders [who] displayed...courage". The transformation
is comparable in its celerity to the midnight fate of Cinderella, her coach
and her horses. Could the News' scolding have had anything to do with
prodding the parties into reaching tentative agreement to defer the crunch
issues on congestion pricing while keeping their hands in the federal till?
Was the editorial the verbal equivalent of cutting off their
tails with a carving knife, often a castration fantasy. Could the point
have been made another way, say giving the three a medal for bravery, as
the Wizard honored the Cowardly Lion? We doubt it, the News had to
use the stick rather than the carrot to motivate this trio..
Despite granting redemption to the former mice, the News remains wary of
its newly farsighted rodents. We quote today's editorial: "The great fear
is that by blowing the application deadline, Spitzer, Silver and Bruno --
our infamous three blind mice -- squandered New York's shot at the
money. Time will tell." (BTW, that happens to be our Rule 12-T).
On the basis of a lifetime in government, we can assure you that New York's
shot has not been squandered. As long as there is a plan which will
raise revenue, create a new bureaucracy and restrict personal freedom, all
at the same time, you will find bureaucrats and elected officials, Republicans
and Democrats, who will be happy to fund it with your money..
.
If New York does not get the traffic funding it seeks, that decision will
have nothing to do with the delay in the application. It will be because,
as with Homeland Security appropriations, discretionary money goes mainly
to red states. Why should the Feds not act the same way as Bruno and
Silver, who care for their own members first. The difference is that
Washington has a far larger empire in which it may selectively distribute
its bounty, which means a bigger and juicier pie to slice. Sadly, the
dough is disproportionately supplied by New York taxpayers, as Senator Moynihan
aptly pointed out for many years in his articles on the fisc.
Mice of the capital, unite. You have nothing to lose but your blinders.
You have a state to win.
#395 7.20.07 1500wds