In his column yesterday, headlined Cheers for David Paterson are fine, but reform must be order of the day, Errol Louis of the Daily News wrote:
But months from now, after the last "good riddance" jokes about Spitzer have been told - and the final bucks raked in by America's best-known whore - New York will remain the most taxed state in the union, and Albany will still be a place where lobbyists, unions and corporate pitchmen wield far too much influence over who gets the sweet slices of the $124 billion budget cake.
Unless, that is, the effort to reform Albany gets back on its feet. Spitzer's disastrous political and personal decisions must not eclipse the need to slash the state's army of unneeded patronage jobs, reel in the debt-binging public authorities, implement true campaign finance reform and make government operations more transparent.
Well, what about Forest City Ratner's significant spending on lobbyists, not to mention the developer's contribution to a "slush fund" controlled by Assembly Democrats?
But months from now, after the last "good riddance" jokes about Spitzer have been told - and the final bucks raked in by America's best-known whore - New York will remain the most taxed state in the union, and Albany will still be a place where lobbyists, unions and corporate pitchmen wield far too much influence over who gets the sweet slices of the $124 billion budget cake.
Unless, that is, the effort to reform Albany gets back on its feet. Spitzer's disastrous political and personal decisions must not eclipse the need to slash the state's army of unneeded patronage jobs, reel in the debt-binging public authorities, implement true campaign finance reform and make government operations more transparent.
Well, what about Forest City Ratner's significant spending on lobbyists, not to mention the developer's contribution to a "slush fund" controlled by Assembly Democrats?
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