On Politics 1/9/09: Stating The State Of The State

We had some interesting feedback this week on the state of our state. In his annual address, Governor Paterson declared the current position of New York to be "perilous". Separately, we received an 2008 update on the 2006 Brennan Center For Justice legislative report on New York state activities that was entitled "Still Broken". Somehow, I believe the two are intertwined.

The Brennan Center notes that too much power still lies in the hands of too few in Albany, including the likes of Sheldon Silver, etc. Our Governor's doomsday analysis of our present status, already troubled long before the current economic crisis, indicates that the management of the state's business remains woefully inadequate. Looking at it from here in the center, it would seem like simple math: Historically ineffective leadership + closed process + biblical proportion financial crisis = the mess we're in.

When pondering the Empire State's fiscal status, and the people responsible for it, I am reminded of a classic comment in the clever comedy "Dave", where Kevin Kline impersonates the incapacitated President. He invites his personal accountant, surprisingly well-played by the often awful Charles Grodin (his second best performance, after his role, also as an accountant, in the terrific "Midnight Run" with Robert DeNiro, a very underrated movie, and, by the way Charles, forget the "Beethoven" series, stick to the financial ledgers, the dog always looks better than you in those flicks), to review the budget of the U.S. in order to find money for a spending initiative favored by the First Lady, played by Sigourney Weaver. Grodin's classic comment to Kline about "who does these (budget) books?; if I did books like these, I'd be fired" seems apropos here as well.

Fellow New Yorkers, do you have any confidence whatsoever that the same people who cannot deliver a budget on time year after year after year are now the same people who will lead us all back to the monetary promised land? Personally, I believe we taxpayers are on a fiscal journey captained by this NY State legislative crew aboard the SS Wishful Thinking, with the Governor joining them on the bridge, steering us towards that Empire State Building iceberg.