4/02/09: UU Thanks Assm Dems Who Voted No on the Budget
Unshackle Upstate, a prominent coalition of business and trade organizations, today thanked the handful of Assembly Democrats who made an attempt to protect Upstate business and citizen taxpayers against the proposed state budget by voting against it.
Meanwhile, the coalition has renewed its call for members of the Upstate Senate Democratic Caucus to demonstrate the same "constituents first" fortitude by blocking a spending plan that will be devastating for the already struggling Upstate economy.
"We have been saying for weeks that this budget was going to have a backbreaking impact on our upstate economy," said Brian Sampson, the coalition's executive director. "We have been working hard to share with members of the legislature our grave concern that this ill- conceived budget will result in long-term consequences for our economy and for every taxpayer."
Based on votes in the Assembly, it is clear that the message is being heard. In a somewhat unprecedented move, a handful of Democrats in the Assembly voted no, going against the budget agreement approved by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
"When Dennis Gabryszak (Buffalo), Robin Schimminger (Buffalo), Sam Hoyt (Buffalo), Bill Parment (Jamestown), Joe Morelle (Rochester) David Koon (Rochester), Joan Christenson (Syracuse) and others can see that this proposed budget will do nothing but impede the state's ability to recover from this recession, then follow their conscience and vote no, there is no reason why their peers in the Senate cannot do the same," Sampson said. "We reinforce our call for the Upstate Senate Democratic Caucus to follow their peers, protect their constituents, and vote no on the proposed budget."
Unshackle Upstate's concerns were reinforced by a statement issued by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. In a release yesterday, Comptroller DiNapoli panned the budget saying it "is not a long-term solution to New York's propensity to spend more than the state can afford. While the budget proposes to close an unprecedented gap, it does so by an over reliance on non-recurring federal stimulus funds and new tax revenues projected to materialize at a time of declining tax receipts."
DiNapoli went on to say, "This is essentially a buy-time budget, based on a hope that the economy recovers quickly. It's a very fragile basket to place all the taxpayers' eggs in. Instead of using the Federal stimulus to restructure the financial plan and match projected revenues to long term growth in spending, the budget uses stimulus funds as a short-term fix. The danger is that New York could end up right back where we started, with huge budget gaps and an unsustainable level of spending."
Unshackle Upstate is calling upon all Democratic senators, but in particular those that represent the region to step up and act. "We are looking for a hero, a person or caucus, willing to take on the responsibility of protecting the more than 17 million residents of New York", states Andrew Rudnick, CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. "We continue to see other Senators working together to fight for their constituents, such as the Downstate Senators blocking the MTA increase. So, in a Senate with only a small margin for the majority, the vote of any one of these five Democratic senators, or all of them as a caucus, can make all the difference."
The coalition has pushed for more structural reforms in the budget. Those include:
- Enacting Medicaid reforms that would not only cut the cost of the program to taxpayers, but increase its effectiveness for the population it serves;
- Instituting a property tax cap as proposed in 2008 by Governor Paterson; and
- Implementing the recommendations of the New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness.
The Unshackle Upstate coalition represents more than 45,000 employers and more than 1 million workers in every region of Upstate. The coalition's website www.unshackleupstate.com provides a direct way for citizens to send a message to elected officials in Albany.
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