Who’s he running against again?

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy today took a swipe at Gov. David Paterson, who is not running this fall, accusing the governor in a harshly-worded press release of being a “scapegoat.”

At issue for Levy was an extended interview Paterson gave to the Wall Street Journal’s Jacob Gershman, in which he claimed that the governor of New York inherently lacks sufficient power to fix Albany and his successor – whoever that person may be – is essentially doomed to fail.

“His claim that Governors in this state have no power is an absolute fallacy,” said Levy.

“In New York the Governor has a great deal of power, but to use it requires political determination and a willingness to take on the Legislature, take on the special interests, and fight for the best interest of taxpayers. Governor Paterson is not engaging in that fight.”

Levy went on to note that a number of the cost-saving measures Paterson says he supports, including the property tax cap and wage freeze for state employees (or, alternatively, layoffs), were not included in the governor’s proposed budget.

Paterson did suspend the 4 percent state workers’ raise negotiated in the last contract in his emergency budget extenders, causing the unions to threaten legal action.

He hasn’t gone the layoff route because a no-layoff pledge was part of the MOU to get the unions to sign off on the creation of Tier 5.

Levy also took issue with Paterson’s recent claim that the governor can’t declare a state of fiscal emergency, which is a cornerstone of the county executive’s proposal to fix New York’s fiscal mess.

In Levy’s mind, the “state of emergency” declaration is more about sending a message than actually accomplishing anything.

“The Governor does have the ability to declare a state of emergency,” said Levy.

“He walks up to a podium and says, ‘this is a fiscal state of emergency.’ It’s not a constitutional provision, but a state of mind and an acknowledgement that there is a set of conditions demanding spending restraint.

“Setting the mood that there is a fiscal emergency will make it abundantly clear that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

Share|