I Had No Choice?

On October 15^th, Governor Paterson initiated what has unfortunately become almost a new ritual in Albany – telling us that he has to make further “mid-year” cuts to the existing severe state budget. The details are mind-numbing – $686 million in aid cuts to school districts (on top of the freeze in education spending earlier in the year), and cuts to after-school and Medicaid – but the consequences are clearer: less remedial programs, bigger classes, and parents scrambling to find alternative child care arrangements.

Anticipating the outcry from advocates like us, the Governor had a simple answer: balancing the budget “will mean hard and painful choices, but that is exactly the type of leadership New Yorkers deserve from their public officials.”

The Governor’s rhetoric – coming from a politician with a history of advocacy for social programs – echoes the conservative spin we’ve heard for decades, so it sounds reasonable enough. But it’s seriously misleading.

First is his assumption that solely relying on cuts to balance the budget is the economically sound strategy. As our friends at the Fiscal Policy Institute have just reminded the Legislature, suddenly taking $2.3 billion of government spending out of the state economy is surely not a way to put New York on the path to economic recovery.

And, there are alternatives, including using the state’s two “rainy day” funds, that the Governor has so far refused to do.

Recent history provides reason for hope.

Earlier this year, the Governor resisted again and again reasonable proposals to increase taxes on high income individuals, echoing the right-wing rhetoric that it would damage the state’s economic climate. Ultimately, the Governor gave in, and the state increased taxes and fees, helping to balance the state budget while avoiding some of the worst consequences that working families in other states experienced in this recession.

When the Legislature returns on November 9th to consider the Governor’s “Deficit Reduction Plan,” let’s hope the Legislature continues to resist the Governor’s one-sided solutions, and once again thinks of the most vulnerable New Yorkers in closing the state budget gap.