NYCivic

NOTE: We deferred yesterday's article today in order to print our invitation to our Civic Forum on Wednesday, January 9th from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. You can link to the invitation here.

How Will Leaders' Quarrels Affect Budget Deficit?
Timely Agreement That Was Reached Last Year
Is Unlikely to Occur Again as Sharp Cuts Loom

The new year will not bring relief from the problems facing New York State and its battered public officials. Apart from the personal quarreling of the Three Men Who Will No Longer Share a Room, there are intense financial issues like a looming state deficit that now exceeds four billion dollars.

In Wednesday's Daily News (p29), Michael Goodwin predicts troubles continuing for the governor. NO RELIEF FOR GOV IN NEW YEAR. Goodwin's opinion of Spitzer has not improved over the holidays, and he delivers a thorough scolding on a wide variety of issues. We have never so many different charges coupled in one indictment. It makes you feel sorry for the governor, except that his attitude rebuffs sympathy.

Goodwin's closer: 'Then there is his penchant for secrecy and insider decision-making, as illustrated by how Spitzer fumbled the planned expansion of the Javits Center and the MTA fare hike. His sudden and strangea bid to have the inept New York Racing Association (NYRA) keep control of the tracks was sa head-scratcher that has earned an investigation of its own.

"Navigating his way through all these issues would be difficult for a skilled and popular politician. Spitzer is neither. Nor does he show much inclination to change his ways. Perhaps he can't. After all, character is destiny, even in the new year."

In its lead editorial Wednesday (p28), SPITZER'S SECOND CHANCE, the News makes suggestions in an effort to be helpful to the governor. Their ideas are sensible and well worth your reading. We hope Spitzer listens to this friendly advice.

One gubernatorial fault the News comments on, referring to Troopergate: "Spitzer has a habit of saying things that obviously aren't true". The editorial tells the governor to "give the Public Integrity Commission everything it needs for its inquiry - and seek to make public his own sworn testimony at the earliest possible date. The sooner he does that the sooner Bruno's caterwauling will die down." The Darren Dopp story which appeared on p12 of today's News, and which we discuss later in this article, indicates reluctance by a Spitzer alumnus to make full disclosure.

The Post ran two editorials yesterday which were highly critical of the governor; one on integrity and the other on state spending.

COMMISSION FOR SALE begins: "Forget integrity - do Gov. Spitzer and his supposedly 'independent' Public Integrity Commission have any shame?" The second editorial, READING SPITZER'S LIPS, quotes the governor's words in 2006: "We're not going to raise your taxes - and you can take that to the bank." The Post then says: "He immediately presented a budget callling for hundreds of millions of dollars in 'loophole closers' - which businesses and taxpayer groups rightly recognized for what they were: tax increases. Get ready for similar tricks..." Link to the editorial for the particulars. The bottom line is that the governor has made promises on issues, which would be hard for him to resolve on his own,and practically impossible for him to deliver on with Bruno and Silver, who have obligations to labor unions and other constituent groups which they value more highly than the good will of the governor.

The Sun, not attacking Spitzer, has a page one story by Jacob Gershman. SILVER, SPITZER MAY BE HEADED FOR BUDGET CLASH "A clash over education spending is heating up between the state's Democratic governor and the Democratic speaker of the assembly." The story is an objective account of an impending collision, unless Mr. Spitzer collapses in the face of Mr. Silver's opposition to any reductions, not in aid, but in the amount of projected increases for school aid in the face of sharply reduced state tax revenues. On this issue, the governor has the high ground, but what strength does he have left to deal with his shrewder adversaries, who are committed to a new version of the 1930's slogan, 'Tax and tax, borrow and borrow, spend and spend, elect and elect." The 2000's edition adds the borrowing part to the spending mantra.

Towards the end of January (the 22d or later), Governor Spitzer will present to the Legislature his proposed taxing and spending plan for fiscal year 2009. The State Constitution requires them to act on it by April 1. Last year, they met the deadline (give or take a day). They reached agreement because the governor yielded on many points where he tried to limit spending, nonetheless the result was a compromise. That was nine months ago, when they were getting along relatively better than they are did. We make no predictions about what will happen this year. We know it is impossible for everyone to keep their promises to constituent groups for increased spending. Negotiations, however, require parties willing to speak to each other. So far, we have not reached that condition. We certainly begin 2008 with considerably more discord than we began last year.

Darren Dopp Declines to Deliver Diary
To State's Public Integrity Commission

The fox is a crafty animal, and occasionally eludes the dogs yapping at his heels. In Albany, he will have platoons of lawyers to cover his tracks and to keep the hunters at bay.

The hunters are not without resources, having equal access to the State treasury, which, under our system of government, pays for both sides in this internecine dispute between two of the three men who once shared a room, to the exclusion of all others.

Today's installment of Troopergate is reported in a Daily News exclusive by Joe Mahoney, their Albany bureau chief. Under the headline, DOPP IN DIARY BATTLE, Mahoney leads with the news that "Darren Dopp, Gov. Spitzer's former spokesman, is seeking to quash a subpoena for diary-like notes he kept while the Troopergate plan was unfolding, sources said yesterday."

What is intriguing about Dopp's stonewalling is that the subpoena does not come from Senator Bruno or any of his agents, but from the Public Integrity Commission appointed by Spitzer himself. Anything Bruno wants can be dismissed as political, but fighting with the good guys is usually not helpful.

However, if there is material in the notes that Spitzer does not want made public, then Dopp must resist the subpoena, even if the result is to impair his own reputation. We believe that Spitzer, at the least, did not object to Dopp's being hired by a firm whose principal, Patricia Lynch, is a former employee of Speaker Silver. The fact that Albany DA Soares already has the notes does not excuse Dopp from handing them over to the Integrity Commission, if the court upholds the subpoena.

2) There is nothing to hide here, but fighting tooth and nail is the best way to impede an investigation which may find other matters which are being hidden for defensive purposes.

In either event, this litigation prolongs the dispute and assures that Troopergate will continue to occupy us during the early part of 2008, which is when legislative business should be transacted.

We did not want this business/nonsense to drag on into the new year, but it has because Senator Bruno and Governor Spitzer are still at war. They are at war because the governor wants to kill (politically) the senate leadership. The major battle ahead will come in November 2008, when Republicans and Democrats alike will spend tens of millions of dollars fighting for control of the State Senate. The game plan this year is for both parties to muss up their opponents as much as they can to make themselves look better for the showdown. The Republicans want to show that Spitzer is a liar. The Democrats want someone to show that Bruno is a crook. Maybe they will sic the appropriate Assembly investigating committee on Bruno. But that escalation would lead to the senate making Silver himself a target, which has not yet happened. That is leadership courtesy.

How Will Leaders' Quarrels Affect Budget Deficit? Timely Agreement That Was Reached Last Year Is Unlikely to Occur Again as Sharp Cuts Loom

How Will Leaders' Quarrels Affect Budget Deficit?
Timely Agreement That Was Reached Last Year
Is Unlikely to Occur Again as Sharp Cuts Loom