As you may recall, last week's COMACTA column in the Bronx Times Reporter reviewed President Obama's anti-NY defense policies. This week's column reviews the failures of Sheldon Silver, Senators Schmuer and Gillibrand, and Mayor Bloomberg's failure to protect NY from bad policies.
January may be drawing to a close and with it, many New Year’s resolutions, but COMACTA proposes a resolution for Mayor Bloomberg, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon: Remember what jobs you were elected to. Whatever one might think of the particular polices supported by these key elected officials, the fact is that they exhibit a strange forgetfulness about to whom they owe their loyalty and dedication to.
New York City is a complex metropolis, with numerous municipal challenges. A distressed public education system, aging and inadequate public transportation, decaying roads and bridges, insufficient affordable housing, high unemployment, excess taxation, and numerous other issues all combine to make the governing of this locale a difficult and certainly full-time task. Unfortunately, Mayor Bloomberg appears to spend more time on issues that, whatever their merit, have very little to do with the powers, duties and responsibilities he accepted when he took the oath of office. For example, while the MTA was proposing drastic service cuts, including the elimination of student passes and the complete withdrawal of bus service to whole portions of our city, the mayor was in Europe discussing global warming. International environmental issues may be important, but the last time COMACTA reviewed the NY City Charter, foreign policy was not listed among the Mayor’s tasks. Similarly, as vast numbers of New Yorkers continue to join the unemployment lines, the Mayor seems obsessed not with their fate, but with the average intake of salt and sugar New Yorkers consume. That issue is the responsibility of the Surgeon General, not the mayor of one city. If the mayor is bored with the arduous task of governing New York, he should consider another position.
The American Constitution is a masterpiece of governing logic, the greatest governmental blueprint ever devised. One of its most important features is its structure of federalism, allowing the individual states to elect officials to both govern the nation and protect the interests of their home states. During the ongoing health care bill debates, one wonders where Senators Schumer and Gillibrand have been. Other states, most notably Nebraska, have been provided with extraordinary incentives to support the health care measure. New York has received next to nothing in the way of special incentives. To the contrary, this state, with a greater number of more inclusive private insurance policies, stands to lose greatly by the special tax on so-called "cadillac" health plans. Despite all this, and many more anti-NY features, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand have been among the most ardent supporters of the health care bill. Why do they seem so disinterested in protecting their fellow New Yorkers?
Speaker Silver, arguably the most powerful elected official in the state, and the longest-serving of the so-called "gang of three" that make most of the governing decisions in New York State, has a long history of questionable decisions that has led many critics to levy conflict-of-interest charges against him. Examples of inappropriate deals in which Mr. Silver has fought against the interests of his own city and district are both lengthy in number and outrageous in their blatant nature. For example, NYC ‘s desperate search for revenue would not be so critical if the Speaker had not bargained away NYC’s commuter tax in return for a potential partisan political windfall. This year, he has bargained away desperately needed charter school provisions in return for political support from the powerful UFT.
While there is always room for debate on which policies are correct, the requirement that elected officials represent the interest of their constituents is absolute. Mayor Bloomber, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, and Speaker Sheldon Silver need to reassess to whom they owe their allegiance.
January may be drawing to a close and with it, many New Year’s resolutions, but COMACTA proposes a resolution for Mayor Bloomberg, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon: Remember what jobs you were elected to. Whatever one might think of the particular polices supported by these key elected officials, the fact is that they exhibit a strange forgetfulness about to whom they owe their loyalty and dedication to.
New York City is a complex metropolis, with numerous municipal challenges. A distressed public education system, aging and inadequate public transportation, decaying roads and bridges, insufficient affordable housing, high unemployment, excess taxation, and numerous other issues all combine to make the governing of this locale a difficult and certainly full-time task. Unfortunately, Mayor Bloomberg appears to spend more time on issues that, whatever their merit, have very little to do with the powers, duties and responsibilities he accepted when he took the oath of office. For example, while the MTA was proposing drastic service cuts, including the elimination of student passes and the complete withdrawal of bus service to whole portions of our city, the mayor was in Europe discussing global warming. International environmental issues may be important, but the last time COMACTA reviewed the NY City Charter, foreign policy was not listed among the Mayor’s tasks. Similarly, as vast numbers of New Yorkers continue to join the unemployment lines, the Mayor seems obsessed not with their fate, but with the average intake of salt and sugar New Yorkers consume. That issue is the responsibility of the Surgeon General, not the mayor of one city. If the mayor is bored with the arduous task of governing New York, he should consider another position.
The American Constitution is a masterpiece of governing logic, the greatest governmental blueprint ever devised. One of its most important features is its structure of federalism, allowing the individual states to elect officials to both govern the nation and protect the interests of their home states. During the ongoing health care bill debates, one wonders where Senators Schumer and Gillibrand have been. Other states, most notably Nebraska, have been provided with extraordinary incentives to support the health care measure. New York has received next to nothing in the way of special incentives. To the contrary, this state, with a greater number of more inclusive private insurance policies, stands to lose greatly by the special tax on so-called "cadillac" health plans. Despite all this, and many more anti-NY features, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand have been among the most ardent supporters of the health care bill. Why do they seem so disinterested in protecting their fellow New Yorkers?
Speaker Silver, arguably the most powerful elected official in the state, and the longest-serving of the so-called "gang of three" that make most of the governing decisions in New York State, has a long history of questionable decisions that has led many critics to levy conflict-of-interest charges against him. Examples of inappropriate deals in which Mr. Silver has fought against the interests of his own city and district are both lengthy in number and outrageous in their blatant nature. For example, NYC ‘s desperate search for revenue would not be so critical if the Speaker had not bargained away NYC’s commuter tax in return for a potential partisan political windfall. This year, he has bargained away desperately needed charter school provisions in return for political support from the powerful UFT.
While there is always room for debate on which policies are correct, the requirement that elected officials represent the interest of their constituents is absolute. Mayor Bloomber, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, and Speaker Sheldon Silver need to reassess to whom they owe their allegiance.
No comments:
Post a Comment