Monday’s Briefing: Devil’s In The Details

by Contributor | August 4, 2008 2:06 pm

State lawmakers come back to Albany at the end of the week to take up the Governor’s call for big budget cuts.

• But will they do it?  History suggests they won’t[1]. And this analysis suggests many lawmakers have their fingers in their ears[2] when the Gov. talks about a budget crisis.
• The NY Times explores what went into Paterson’s decisions[3].
• The Times also gets “experts” to argue whether it’s really a “crisis”[4] or not, as if that mattered to the overtaxed and underemployed.
• Gov. Paterson’s not ruling out taxes to help fill the gap, but one thing he’ll fight is a pay raise for legislators[5].

Gonna be interesting, that’s for sure.

Elsewhere:

• One state union’s boiling mad[6] that you can look up every state worker’s salary[7].  The union may sue[8].
• The NY Post says a still-secret state audit shows tens of thousands of people leave the state but stay on, and keep getting checks from[9], the taxpayer-funded Medicaid rolls.
• New taxpayer group will sue to stop economic development loans and benefits[10].
• If a State Senator from Illinois can run for President, can these New York State Senators run for something, too[11]?
• If NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg runs for Governor in 2010, NY Post’s Fred Dicker says the current Governor will bow out[12].
• Rochester D&C says Republicans like their chances[13] in Renzi v. Aubertine, and a couple of other races.
• Some of the new benefits for gay couples legally married elsewhere[14] include shooting bear on your spouse’s land.
• Racinos’ machines go ka-ching[15]!
• Mothers fight for the legal right to breastfeed babies[16].

And:

• One guy gets the courthouse confessional[17].

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/editors-desk/mondays-briefing-devils-in-the-details/

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