Blair Horner Sounds Off On Paterson's Lack Of Reform Talk

As stated before, Governor Paterson did not mention anything near and dear to the hearts of good government groups. Here is what Blair Horner of NYPIRG had to say in response to the State of the State:

45 By 15 Is More Of What We Need In NY

The numbers make you think of a clock. In a way the program presented by the Governor is a way of helping beat the clock presented by our climate crisis. We all need to do our part to conserve and be efficient with our energy usage but our government needs to help provide clean energy so that coal and oil are eventually thrown to the wayside. Forty-five percent clean energy by 2015 is a great start to making that completely clean energy future a reality.

From PolitickerNY:

Paterson unveiled a new goal of having 45 percent of the electricity generated in the state from "clean and renewable sources" by 2015. He said the measure would produce 50,000 jobs. "We are going to have to make New York a more energy efficient and more energy independent state," he said. This would be done by converting public buildings to alternative energy sources, and providing incentives for homeowners. He also hoped that upstate New York could be the home of the development and manufacture of renewable energy sources.

Clean energy proponents are behind the Governor on this one and state legislators should follow suit. Newbie Senator Daniel Squadron likes the plan, so that is at least one politician in the bag. Although we aren't going to get all the changes New Yorkers wish to see in their government, at least there seems to be a chance of passing through this vital bill for the good of our environment....and as a bonus, tens of thousands of jobs in order to get it done.

Paterson Forgot All About Reform For Albany

The State of the State was slightly lengthy yesterday afternoon, but it still missed out on a lot. Reforming the government and all that goo goo's want were not mentioned even once. The topic used to be something the Governor cared about when he represented Harlem. Now he completely forgot about it. Blair Horner of NYPIRG certainly saw it and so did many others.

From The NY Times:

The most glaring omission was any plan for real political reform. He did not mention the need to change the campaign finance system or the scandalous way legislators draw their own districts. This was a missed opportunity in an otherwise promising summons to confront New York’s historic challenges.

The Governor did talk about reform in other ways, such as for the Rockefeller Drug Laws and how Medicare and Medicaid is distributed. He did have plenty of good ideas in that speech. Yet, if we do not work to fix the broken system, the worst in all the land, then none of those good ideas are going to have as much an impact as they could. New Yorkers want better times just as much as Paterson, but if we do not have trust and faith in our government then getting to the promised land is going to be a much more arduous journey than it needs to be.

Tell the Governor we need campaign finance reform now. The cost of such a program is minuscule compared to some of his other policies (even in these hard times) and the benefits pay out exponentially over time.

Paterson's State Of The State For 2009

I don't know if you had an hour and change to kill during the middle of the day to see the Governor's State of the State speech, but I did. Gov. Paterson addressed a lot of different items, many of them we know from his earlier roll out of the plan for the 2009 budget. Much of what he said we already know, shared sacrifice, tough times, sugar tax, etc.

What I liked hearing was his mentioning of preventive care funding and getting away from how we currently waste dollars in our state's health care system. Attacking that issue at the root cause is the smart thing to do for the future. So is expanding health care from parents to children from ages 19-29. Also, putting money into education is another great way to invest in the future. New York is in tough times now, and the only way to dig ourselves out is to do it smartly and to prepare for brighter days ahead. They won't come unless you lay out the road to them.

Unfortunately, the Governor is taking away from education by raising tuition for students that are having trouble affording college as it is already. Also, as the People's State of the State addresses, the crisis we are in now is due to the greed of the wealthy in and around Wall Street. Everyone is suffering due to their incompetence and failure. As Mark Dunlea of the Hunger Action Network mentions, the speech in Albany is always (and was) more positive than the realities out there. If the Governor wants to get real about our problems and ways of solving them, we need to have fair taxation for all, not just those that like sugary soft drinks.

Paterson is good at talking with us, now let him know how you feel about what he's offering and what we need to add to the budget to make it work for all of us.