GOP: The Party of No Credibility
By Mike Connery on 04/14/2010 @ 12:01 PM
Majority Conference Leader John Sampson has an op-ed in today's Syracuse Post-Standard calling out Dean Skelos and do-nothing Republicans for their refusal to deal constructively with the state's budgetary problems.
In defending his conference’s habitual rejection of fiscally sound proposals, as well as his refusal to come forth with any offerings of his own, Sen. Skelos is continuing the negligent behavior that got New York into this mess in the first place.
During the Bruno-Skelos era of 1996 to 2008, the Republican Conference said “no” to an on-time budget 10 times, for total lateness of 819 days.
When they did manage to pass a budget, the document was hardly a model of fiscal integrity. From 1997 to 2008, outstanding state-related debt increased by 36 percent, from $33.1 billion to $51.6 billion. In other words, the annual bill for every man, woman and child in this state to service the debt increased from $166.16 to $276.14. Borrowing went up, property taxes skyrocketed and jobs left.
Despite this, when the Senate passed a resolution which — for only the third time in more than three decades — controlled spending, they again said “no,” along with their rejection of property tax relief for seniors and a restoration of funding for our state parks. And the very conference that included more than 300 new taxes in its last 10 budgets alone then said “no” to the Democrats’ rejection of $1.1 billion in new taxes and fees. When asked to provide an alternative plan, Sen. Skelos said — you guessed it — “no.”
While cloaking himself in the robes of “no,” one thing is clear: This self-anointed emperor not only has no clothes, he has turned the “party of no” into the “party of no credibility.”
Leader Sampson gets it exactly right. Looking back on their record, it's hard to take Republican indignation over the current budget troubles seriously. Senate Democrats are are the only ones in Albany willing to make tough choices on the budget, and one of the few proposing reforms that will fix a dysfunctional budgetary process. By contrast, Republicans are sitting on the side lines and playing the blame game.
