WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. By Governor David Paterson. From Governor David Paterson's Press Office. January 26,2010: 

This is our winter of reckoning.

The mistakes of the past -- squandering surpluses, papering over deficits, relying on irresponsible fiscal gimmicks to finance unsustainable spending increases -- have led us to a financial breaking point. We have to accept that the old way of doing budgets is unsustainable... and I need your help getting Albany to understand that.

Gov. David Paterson of New York presented a lean budget on Tuesday that is a necessarily austere response to the state's financial crisis... Mr. Paterson's budget makes sense and, for the most part, asks for shared sacrifice. That is a reasonable approach even though this is an election year, when reason does not routinely prevail. The governor has set himself a difficult but necessary task. Read more... -- Editorial, 1/6/2010

Last week, I submitted my Executive Budget that continues the difficult process of confronting New York's new fiscal reality. While all states have been hit hard by this Great Recession, New York once again finds itself at the epicenter of a monumental national challenge being the home to our country's financial community. As a result, my budget makes painful, but responsible, spending reductions in order to eliminate a $7.4 billion deficit.

Just as New York families have had to make tough spending choices to make ends meet, so must state government. Passing along these problems to future administrations is not an option for me. As I told legislators during my State of the State address, I will no longer allow New York to be run like a payday loan operation, and I refuse to write bad checks or mortgage our children's future instead of responsibly confronting our challenges.

Our budget not only limits spending to far below the rate of inflation, but is also anchored to the most significant public higher education reforms in a generation, provides fiscal relief to local governments through an aggressive mandate reform agenda, and includes a number of critical long-term reforms that lay the groundwork for changing the way our State government does business.

Nobody wants to make these cuts. They are painful, they are difficult, and they will have a real impact on people's lives. But delaying action will not only make the problem worse, it will make it harder to solve in the future.

It was an appropriately hard-nosed budget speech that Gov. David A. Paterson delivered to lawmakers and others on Tuesday. Time and again, Paterson put his finger on the financial problems that New York's routine recklessness has caused the state. Now comes the reckoning. Read more... -- Editorial, 1/19/2010

That's why I need you to join me in this fight to change the way Albany does business. We need to make sure your voice is heard so that we can level the playing field and end the dominance of the special interests. Please add your name now by clicking here to let me know that you want to put government back on the side of hardworking New Yorkers.

I know New Yorkers are tired of leaders who pass the buck, force others to make the tough choices to keep their poll numbers artificially high so that they might stay in office, or who unethically game the system for personal political ambition. The budget I submitted is a blueprint for a stronger, healthier, more fiscally and ethically responsible New York. The only way we can emerge from this crisis is through shared sacrifice and changing the way Albany does business, and doing so with honesty, forthrightness, and candor. That is exactly what New Yorkers expect and deserve from their leaders.

Sincerely,
David A. Paterson
Governor of New York