Paterson not dead yet

Gov. Paterson's continued interest in re-election presents a problem for Andrew Cuomo, who has yet to say anything meaningful about the state's fiscal crisis and whose special-interest supporters don't want him to. Cuomo has said a lot about a bill he supported that was passed into law this year and supposedly eases the way for local government consolidation -- not a bad idea, but not one that is going to make any kind of dent in the deficit.

Cuomo has been a bit of a bipartisan golden boy since his Troopergate report in 2007 blasting the Spitzer administration. He did a good job with it, but Joe Bruno's conviction this month takes some of the bloom off that already fading rose, and raises the question of what is the rationale for a Cuomo candidacy? Not being David Paterson may not be enough.

As for Paterson, whose poll numbers have been improving but are still well behind Cuomo's, he can only take born-again budget-cutting so far. Sure, he's going to need to do lots more of it next year, but at some point he is also going to have to fall in behind what is going to be Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's push for an income tax increase on the rich. The best bet is new top brackets kicking in at income levels of $750,000 and $1 million -- with no sunset provision, and removing the sunset from last year's increase. If Paterson gives Silver that, they should be able to agree on cuts to go with it, and roll over the dysfunctional Senate to get it done.

Comments

[Brian]

While there's been plenty of (appropriate) scorn heaped on the Senate, Silver's role in this financial mess seems to have been overlooked. During the budgeting process last spring, Silver strongly resisted the deeper cuts pushed by Paterson. He pooh-poohed Paterson's warnings as chicken little fatalism. He said we should make minimal cuts and wait until later in the year to see what happens, presumably after a round of heel-clicking and finger-crossing... even though, as is rightly pointed out, mid-year cuts are far more difficult for counties, schools, etc. to deal with. Now the state is dealing with the consequences of Silver's ostrich approach. Maybe that's why he's been so silent in the clashes between the governor and the senate... because he doesn't want to remind people of his role.