Governor Patterson has the right idea in asking the unions to forego the planned raises that would be due to unionized state employees next April.

The concept I believe he is espousing is that in New York State government, we should be operating as a family. As with most families, they share in both the good times and the bad times, especially when it comes to finances. When money or income is in tight supply, because of a parent getting laid off or being forced to take a lesser paying job, or maybe a child or two are entering college or going on to post-graduate studies, the family must pull together and reduce or eliminate their collective spending on non-essential items.

The same should apply for the New York State family. Making the analogy that the governor and the legislature are the parent of the family and the state employees and the taxpayers are the family members or children, the family should be “sharing the pain” as a family unit. As I mentioned in my previous article, state employees are never asked to share the pain. They can be compared to the spoiled rotten kids in a family that simply think their parents are required to provide the same lifestyle to them regardless of what may be adversely happening to their family’s financial status.

If you think about it logically, it only makes sense. The more you are willing to help out the family when it is in dire financial circumstances, the better off the family will be, and the more likely they will reward you for both your assistance and your loyalty to the family when the financial good times return. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. A pretty famous American once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. And he was right.

Taxpayers also need to adjust their collective attitudes in these adverse financial times. Taxes may need to be raised and those increases are likely to be assessed to the taxpayers with the highest income. Not dissimilar to the older brother in a large family who is getting double the allowance of his younger siblings. He can expect that his allowance will be cut by a higher percentage and amount than his siblings, and once the crisis is over he can get back to his more favorable position.

So, let’s stop being the spoiled children and step-children and let’s get in the family spirit and get through this hard time together. Remember the words of “Annie”, the sun’ll come out tomorrow, so you gotta hang on til tomorrow, come what may”.

Every so often we hear this phrase as a campaign strategy from candidates running for governor and other elected offices. We heard it from Lew Lehrman a couple of decades ago, more recently from Tom Golisano and the most famous would have to be H. Ross Perot with his flip charts. And golly, didn’t it sound like a good idea every time we heard it?

The fact of the matter is that New York State government cannot ever be run like a private business. First and foremost, there is no profit motive. There are no stock or shareholders to account to. One can argue that the taxpayers are the shareholders. Wrong.

The taxpayer is simply a funding source and is never looked on by elected officials in the legislative or the executive branch as someone they are accountable to. If you think otherwise you are naïve to the workings to New York State government. Now, don’t get it twisted, you will continuously hear candidates tell you they are working only for the taxpayers concerns and to a degree that is true, but that is not remotely the same working to generate a dividend for a corporate shareholder.

So, let’s talk about the private business sector and how it is run. When economic and fiscal times are good and everyone is flush with money, sales are good and the stock market is riding high, unemployment rates are low and most employees are looking for and are receiving raises and bonus packages from their respective employers. Everyone is happy.

What happens when the economic and fiscal times are disastrous, such as with what is occurring at this time in the country? Companies have no extra monies, sales are down substantially and the stock market is plummeting. Unemployment rates are at record high levels and most employees are either just happy to not be getting laid off or happy to be taking a reduction in salary just to keep working to support their families.

Now, let’s turn to what happens in New York State government during each of these same scenarios. In scenario one, the boom in the stock market creates budget surpluses and the Legislature immediately takes action to appropriate additional monies to spend instead of doing the fiscally prudent thing which would be to put the money into a “rainy day fund” for when the economic times turn sour.

Individual state agencies are allowed to hire additional non-essential staff, many of whom are hired through the “political patronage system” not the Civil Service system, and the unions push for higher raises and benefits for their members.

In scenario two, there are no layoffs of any state staff, although threats are made by the governor. There is a moratorium on hiring, which really means that only the state agency heads having some “juice” with the governor or legislative leaders are allowed to hire any additional staff or to replace staff that retires or leaves the agency. In addition, union contract raises continue to be paid in spite of the state’s multi-billion dollar deficits (that’s billions not millions my friends).

Salaries of state employees are not reduced in an effort to control, manage and reduce these huge deficits. This is a huge difference in how private companies are run. In the state a job is considered by the employees to be an entitlement, like Medicaid or public assistance, and therein lays the problem in trying to run New York State like a business.  In the private sector, everyone gets to share the pain in the bad times, and revel in the good times. For state employees, they never get to share any pain, “it’s all good” all the time.

And state employees wonder why the term “state employees” gets a bad rap among the working families in the private sector that live and work in the real business world. I don’t wonder anymore.

We’ve all heard the jokes about Albany, routinely referred to as Small-bany, from the big city clickers from New York City, Philadelphia and Boston. But I’ve even heard the jokes from natives of Buffalo, Hartford and from Albany itself (myself included).

These people come to Albany for work, or they come to visit family or friends. While they are here, and they have some leisure time to themselves and begin to look for things to do in the capitol city of New York State, they say “Surely there must be interesting sites and landmarks to see, some good theater; several great museums and art galleries, and an active social life in Albany”; and surprisingly, there is.

Landmarks to see include the State Capitol, the Empire State Plaza, including the Corning Tower and the Egg, the D&H Plaza, several old and distinguished churches, the Lark Street district, Washington Park and the brownstone neighborhoods that surround it; and, the Riverfront Park at the Corning Preserve.

For arts and entertainment, there is the Palace Theater, Capital Repertory Theater, The Egg, The Comedy Works and, of course the Times-Union Center.

For museums there is the Albany Institute of History & Art, the New York State Museum, the Albany Planetarium at Quackenbush Square, the Albany Center Galleries, the new Broadway Art Center; and numerous art galleries and studios in the Lark Street area.

So why the derogatory Small-bany moniker you say? Well, in my humble opinion, it has to do with the fact that after 5:00pm on work nights, downtown Albany becomes a virtual ghost town. A mass exodus of biblical proportions occurs. And on the weekends, other than when there is an event at the Times-Union Center or at the Empire State Plaza, it is much the same; down town streets are empty. One just doesn’t get that vibrant city feel in downtown Albany like you do in New York or Philadelphia or Boston.

There is one exception. Pearl Street and several side streets are heavily populated with bars that are frequented with young (many underage) drinkers and revelers. But there really isn’t much to do if you are just looking for an adult social or cultural experience in downtown Albany on a weeknight or on the weekend.

In a recent weeknight visit to Philadelphia to see a friend, I was able to spend some time in the smoking lounge of a high-end cigar shop and then on to a smoking bar and lounge above the cigar shop. After that we walked to a nice wine bar for some good wine and to listen to a piano bar singer. In the walk between locations, there were many stores still open for some shopping and there were several news shops and convenient food stores.

Each place was full of people who had just left work and were meeting other people to just hang out and unwind after a full day of work. They weren’t sprinting to their cars and racing home to the suburbs.

In part, it was because they live within the city limits and don’t drive to work because they walk or take a bus or a cab to work. More pointedly and more importantly, however, they had the option of an alternative place to go for awhile after work. The lack of residential space in downtown is the primary reason for the tumbleweed you may see blowing through the Pearl Street corridor on weeknights and weekends.

It’s time for Albany to finalize a plan to invigorate a once proud downtown and to start executing that plan.

Douglas Boettner
doug.boettner@gmail.com

I couldn’t agree more with Paul Bray’s recent article “Thoughts on the Palin Nomination”. I totally agree more with his assessment. To me, at first, it seemed that Obama Fever was going to make this presidential race a runaway in his favor. But then he chose Joe Biden instead of Hillary Clinton. In my opinion, an Obama/Clinton ticket would have been unbeatable by whomever the Republicans put forth. This selection now made it a race again.

Then the Republicans made the blunder of the campaign: selecting Sarah Palin. It was so obvious to me that McCain was a mere puppet in this selection, and that is sad in and of itself. After all, if elected, he is supposed to be the "leader" of the free world. Right now it seems he isn't even the leader of his own party.

One can argue that choosing Palin is a way of garnering the majority of the female vote and maybe carrying the ticket to victory; maybe not. But shouldn't a presidential ticket be victorious because you have the most qualified and proven leaders on the ticket. What good is electing someone who quite possibly could become president and can't do the job? The Republicans may just have snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory.

So now the American people have a choice of electing two people who are not capable of running the strongest and most powerful country in the world. How sad and pitiful. My guess is that voter turnout will be the lowest in history.

Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco recently called out a state commission led by former Lt. Gov. Stan Lundine for continuing to spend money after releasing its report earlier in the year. If this is, in fact, the case, it is ludicrous and wasteful, especially in these tight economic times. The article goes on, however, to give an explanation from the commission justifying the expenses. So there is some room for doubt as to the propriety of the expenses.

Assemblyman Tedisco has called for Comptroller DiNapoli to audit the expenses of the commission for propriety, and this should be done on more of a routine basis, because as we all should know, when people are left unattended with the public checkbook and knowing there is nobody coming around to look over their shoulder, they will usually find ways to spend the money in an inappropriate manner. 

Unfortunately, state commissions and committees do not receive the same level of scrutiny that executive state agencies receive in the pre-audit of their contracts and expenses by the State Comptroller’s Office. But, given this instance, it appears they obviously should. The Comptroller’s annual audit plan should include the audit of any temporary commission or committee that has completed its statutory tasks.

Douglas Boettner can be contacted at doug.boettner@gmail.com

In a press release issued August 22, 2008, the Business Council of NYS applauded the ESDC appointments by Governor Paterson. These appointments are all well and good, but the Department of Economic Development (DED) remains without an agency head. The entire department is literally sitting "dead in the water" waiting for a new agency head to be appointed by the Governor.

Based on my experience with drafting the original Contract Reporter legislation and my hands-on experience with increasing the participation of minority and women-owned business enterprises in State contracting opportunities, I have made recommendations to DED over the last five months regarding changes that could, and should, be made to the Contract Reporter law and in the area of increasing minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE) participation in New York State contracts.  While current staff at DED believe all of the recommendations have merit, they are reticent to move forward with them until they have some direction from their top management; even knowing full well they are necessary and good for DED and for New York State in general.

This isn't bureaucratic red tape, its bureaucratic negligence.

ajake818@yahoo.com

Was it ambition that overtook the man? Was it desire for power that consumed him? Was it arrogance and the feeling of invincibility that destroyed him?

Regardless of which you believe it to be, and the arguments can and may go on forever, I believe the truth may be much simpler than all of the above. Attorneys General should not run for the office of governor. In fact, history proves this point. Until he won the office, no other attorney general in the history of New York State had ever been elected governor. I believe there is a good reason for this fact.

Prosecutors are charged with enforcing the law. The law, in most cases, is a clear cut thing. You’re either breaking it or complying with it. There is no gray area. Attorney Generals who wish to remain in office need to prosecute high profile cases and have those cases receive maximum exposure in the media. Now if you are the person or company being prosecuted this does not sit well and can harbor some serious hatred and animosity.

My belief is simple. Prosecutors, enforcers, auditors and controllers do not make good governors. They “do not play well with other kids in the sandbox”. They have too strong a need to be in control. If people don’t play by their rules, they take their ball and go home; game over. We all know what has happened with the Bruno vs. Spitzer melee and we’ll be hearing about the gory details of Trooper Gate for some time to come.

In furtherance of my belief, in the history of New York State, no State Comptroller has ever been elected governor. Carl McCall can attest to that after his failed attempt.

A governor needs to be many things and possess many talents. In addition, the governor’s cabinet and appointees must also posses many of those talents. The key talent, above all others, is an ability to be diplomatic and to work well with others and never ever kick sand in the eyes of your adversaries. You may just need them some day.

The siting of a convention center in downtown Albany was an issue. They found a site, albeit not the greatest, and then the cost estimates ballooned to a degree that it appears the center will not get built.

I am suggesting that the complex be built at the site of the Harriman Campus (Campus) between Washington and Western Avenues. Space and parking are issues in downtown Albany; they are not at the Campus. Easy accessibility is an issue with a downtown Albany location; with the convergence of the Thruway, I-90 and the Northway, access to the Campus is easy.

I point to a model that may work at our site. Seattle is working on building Emerald City Center (www.emearldcitycenter.com). Its focal point is a sports complex primarily for basketball and hockey. It also has buildings highlighting technology, the heritage of the northwest country, residential buildings and retail space. The funding will be a combination of public financing and private partnerships. It seems with SUNY Albany right next door this could be a win-win for everyone. Let’s do something spectacular in Albany.

In his recent column Wake up to the wonders of Albany (Albany Times Union, 8/10/08) Paul Bray hit the proverbial nail right on the head. Albany and the surrounding area has so much to offer tourists and families from the area, but it seems we are not taking full advantage of them. Why have we not promoted them better? Why haven’t we taken advantage of our connection to our Dutch heritage? What has happened to the grant The New Netherlands Museum received to develop a museum on the site of the original Fort Orange settlement just north of the Port of Albany?

I am heading and organizing a group of volunteers to work on a project to build one or more authentic working Dutch windmills on sites along the Hudson River in and around Albany. The 400th anniversary of the founding of Albany by the Dutch will be here in just over a year. Shouldn’t there be a museum commemorating the Fort Orange settlement and how great would it be for local tourism to have a working Dutch windmill there that people could visit and get in touch with how people lived in Albany 400 years ago.

Let’s not miss out on this once in every 400 year period. Let me know if you want to help. My email is ajake818@aol.com.