Molinaro Has a Plan

At bottom, New York's problem is political. Local representatives have too little real power, and therefore behave like the extraneous baggage they are. In a system in which "three men in a room" -- the governor, the Senate Majority Leader and the Speaker of the Assembly -- effectively pull all the strings, there is too little incentive for the rest of the elected government to act.

In contrast to Senator Saland's inertia -- and in tension with his flippant-sounding remarks to me when I visited the assembly -- Assemblyman Marcus Molinaro has taken a much clearer and more active position in the mess. I'm not sure I fully understand the nuance of the state's deficit problems, but I am working on it -- and will post my progress here.

But here's what I like about Assemblyman Molinaro:

1) His statement (from his website) on the special session of the legislature to be called on the 28th. It says

It is surprising to me that the governor needs to tell legislative leaders to do their jobs. People throughout the state have suffered long enough because of the inability of neglectful politicians to come together and finalize the state’s budget.

That's exactly right. At very least, these people need to take their jobs seriously. I know that the New York State government does not pay these people a full-time salary, but that's beside the point. This is public service, and it's important.

2) His emphasis on reforming the system rather than putting band-aids on specific wounds. In contrast to Senator Saland, who posts a serpentine statement on school funding on his website (which, by the way, blames "Dems" for the problem in the clip's title), Assemblyman Molinaro lists ways in which he would like to see the entire legislative system changed. In an e-mail to me, he said,

I support a constitutional spending cap, use of general government accounting principles, a change to the fiscal year, multi-year budgeting and even some sort of advisory panel with expert financial experience (I would not support turning over legislative responsibilities for budget adoption and management to an unelected, unaccountable board, however)

These positions represent a long view about government, not a partisan negotiating stance.

3) His very quick, detailed and respectful response to my e-mail. I never got anything like that from Senator Saland.

I think Mr. Molinaro's resistance to borrowing comes from a good impulse, but may be short-sighted. Coupled with all the requirements of long-term reform, short-term borrowing -- actual, pay-it-back-on-time borrowing, not the book-keeping fudges that the legislature has used before -- might be necessary in a pinch, and should not be thrown out with the proverbial bath water.

In sum, I think Assemblyman Molinaro represents the kind of thinking we need in the assembly.