Governor wielding the veto ax

Despite his mild-mannered demeanor, Governor David A. Paterson has proven to be deadly tough when it comes to vetoing bills passed by the Legislature - since June he’s terminated 171 bills and with them, over $530 million in spending.
“These tough fiscal times call for tough decisions,” said Governor Paterson, who indicated that they would have added significant costs to the state budget after it was enacted in April, without identifying spending reductions to pay for them.
“Many of the bills I vetoed are worthy projects with laudable goals,” Paterson admitted. “But in the face of this current fiscal crisis, we must begin immediately to adjust our budget priorities to reflect the new economic reality we must confront,” he insisted.
The Governor’s office points out that the real savings are much larger than the $531.7 million reduction in the state’s expenses over the next two years - many of the vetoed bills would have cost localities money, too.
Since he took office in March, after the resignation of disgraced former Governor Eliot Spitzer, Paterson’s office says he “has worked with the legislature repeatedly to reduce state spending to protect the state’s finances.”
The soft-spoken Paterson, who as Lieutenant Governor was little more than a ceremonial figurehead, had little time to exert control over the initial budget. He nevertheless wrested spending cuts from the legislature in April and July, totaling more than $1.3 billion.
With worsening news, as Governor he called an extraordinary special session of the legislature in August that enacted savings of another $1 billion over two years.
His office also takes credit for a “hard hiring freeze,” although there has been at least one soft spot.
In April, Paterson announced that state agencies could fill only “absolutely essential” openings. In July he tightened the reins even further, saying that his office had to approve new hires.
Yet in July, he named Jackson Heights Assemblymember Ivan Lafayette, 78, as Deputy Superintendent for Community Affairs at the state Insurance Department.
The newly-created $140,000 job comes with a staff, car and driver, and is in charge of planning and directing the department’s outreach and community affairs initiatives, according to the state’s top Insurance officer, Superintendent Eric Dinallo, who called him “an outstanding addition” to the department.
Lafayette’s hiring “was a preexisting commitment.” Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield said.
The last projection from the Division of the Budget, at the end of August, projected that the state faces a $5.4 billion deficit in the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2009 and a $24.4 billion deficit over the next three years.
On Friday, October 3, Governor Paterson met with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and the minority leaders of the Legislature and laid his cards on the table.
The Wall Street debacle has “blown a hole” in the state’s finances, and he wants to find another $2 billion to cut out of this year’s budget.
From the look of things, he’s projecting that for next year’s budget, which normally would be due on April 1, the deficit could be more than $6.4 billion.
He put the leadership on notice that he expected them to start looking for cuts now and when they come back into a special session that he called for Tuesday, November 18, he wants their plans already in place - he’s going to submit his budget a month early, and wants to pass an austerity 2009 budget well ahead of time.
“Bond rating agencies respond to action,” Paterson said, predicting that a severely lowered rating for New York State debt is looming in the future if the cuts aren’t made.
Noting that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked for a $7 billion loan from the U.S. to deal with their fiscal crisis, Paterson pointed out that, “Under the laws of our state we can’t [do that].”