From a NY Times editorial, published yesterday:
Failed State
New Yorkers should be appalled at their failed state government, particularly their corrupt and clueless Legislature. Scandal and irresponsibility have been Albany’s creed for decades. This year, the gang added another outrage to the list: complete fiscal incompetence.
The only solace is this: The entire Legislature is up for re-election in 2010. And unless there is a sudden turnaround — and, so far, we see few signs of it — New Yorkers have no choice but to vote out all the lawmakers and start over.
If there is any doubt left, here are just a few reminders of this year’s worst of the worst:
WHAT, US WORRY? New York has been on the brink of economic collapse, but the Legislature blithely ignored the problem for months. When the deficit reached a truly alarming $3.2 billion, the lawmakers grudgingly agreed to last-minute fixes while carefully protecting their political buddies and donors. That meant rich school districts on Long Island kept their money (until Gov. David Paterson imposed a temporary, across-the-board reduction), but 500,000 schoolchildren in New York City — many of whom can’t afford it — will now have to pay to ride the subway to class.
Even after draining state savings accounts and using federal stimulus dollars that were supposed to be spent next year, they still fell $500 million short. Next year is now a few hours away. The state is already in the red, and it could be facing a $9 billion deficit by March. Yet there is no sign that legislative leaders have spent much time thinking about how to address this disaster.
That's just the beginning of the piece, and it was written by a New York paper about a New York problem, but it could easily have been written by an Arizona paper about an Arizona problem...if the MSM in Arizona actually dared to seriously criticize the powers-that-be.
Try this on for size, with changes set off by [brackets] -
Failed State
[Arizonans] should be appalled at their failed state government, particularly their corrupt and clueless Legislature. Scandal and irresponsibility have been [Phoenix's] creed for decades. This year, the gang added another outrage to the list: complete fiscal incompetence.
The only solace is this: The entire Legislature is up for re-election in 2010. And
unless there is a sudden turnaround — and, so far, we see few signs of it — [Arizonans] have no choice but to vote out all the lawmakers and start over.
If there is any doubt left, here are just a few reminders of this year’s worst of the worst:
WHAT, US WORRY? [Arizona] has been on the brink of economic collapse, but the Legislature [and Governor] blithely ignored the problem for months. When the deficit reached a truly alarming $3.2 billion, the lawmakers grudgingly agreed to last-minute fixes while carefully protecting their political buddies and donors. That meant [school tuition organizations, including those operated by a legislator writing the laws regarding STOs] kept their money [deleted], but [thousands of ]schoolchildren [in Arizona's public schools will lose their teachers.]
Even after draining state savings accounts and using federal stimulus dollars that were supposed to be spent next year, they still fell $500 million short. Next year is now a few hours away. The state is already in the red, and it could be facing a [$3] billion deficit by March. Yet there is no sign that legislative leaders have spent much time thinking about how to address this disaster.
Scary how easily that editorial could have been written about AZ.
And to those of you who respond by saying "But New York is a Democratic state, so its problems were caused by Democrats!", remember this -
For all but approximately 6 months out of the last four decades, the Rs have controlled the NY state senate and have used it as a private money machine, as delineated later in the editorial.
In regard to the editorial's applicability to Arizona's situation, I do disagree with one point - we don't need to turn out *all* of the incumbent legislators. Most of the Democrats in the AZ lege are pretty good.
That's not just a partisan observation, either. One of the few good points, perhaps the only good point, of being the minority party in the lege for so long is that the Dems attracted to the lege are ones who take public service seriously.
Unlike most of the Rs, who either view it as an ideological playpen or a tool to enhance their private businesses (STOs, anyone?).
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