I mean really, Albany? Really?

The budget process in Albany has obviously become a complete joke. And like all good hack politicians the jokers in Albany are trying to score cheap political points.

Case in point Gov Patterson just ordered cuts, cutbacks and closing at 55 State Parks.

As a result  I just got word from a softball league I play in that our games at Riverbank State Park have been cancelled.

I mean really? How much does it cost the State on New York to let people play softball on a field?

This is how the geniuses in Albany decided to save money! Padlock a softball field? How does this save the state of New York even a dime? I mean come on!

On Thursday at a breakfast meeting hosted by Crain's New York Business Rudy Giuliani stated that for him to run for Governor of NY things would have to be "bad". Well if our state's current economic and political situation doesn't count as "bad" then I don't know what "bad" is!

Here is an article talking about it and urging Rudy to throw his hat into the ring: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2009586/draft_rudy_giuliani_for_governor.html

Last night (after the gridlock was broken) the NYS Senate voted to raise the NYC Sales tax by .5%, an almost 6% increase to the new rate of 8.875%.

 The vote was 43 to 19 with many Republicans crossing the aisle to vote with the Democrats to raise the sales tax.

 Sen. Ruben Diaz apparently got up on the Senate floor and beg the Republicans for almost an hour to join with him to defeat the tax hike.  Democrats Sen.. Hiram Monerrate and Kevin Parker also voted against the tax hike.

 So this was a bill the Republicans easily could have killed.

 In my opinion this was a HUGE missed opportunity for them. After a month of chaos the 1st thing Republicans in the Senate do when the leadership is settled is join with the Democrats to raise taxes.

Today, July 1 a $500 million NYC sales tax hike was scheduled to go into effect. However due to the gridlock in the NY State Senate they couldn't pass the tax hike. So if you buy anything in New York City today it will be a half a percent cheaper than it would have been if not for the Senate coup!

So at least while those idiots in Albany argue us shoppers in New York City can save a few bucks. Every month they argue saves New York City consumers $60 million in taxes.

The NY Post has an Editorial supporting  Curtis Sliwa who has been talking about running for Public Advocate as an Independent on a platform of  eliminating the do nothing office which will cost $1.8 million this year (which is down from the $2.9 million the office has cost last year).

I like this quote from Sliwa "If elected I would close and padlock the office, fire all the employees and, most importantly, fire myself."

It's about time someone made the case for getting rid of this useless post that's costing NYC taxpayers millions of dollars every year!

I hate to say it but this might be the one job that Sliwa is actually qualified for! As long as he really intends to follow through on his promise to eliminate the office he's got my vote!

Looks like the folks over at Urban Elephants have started the Draft Rudy Giuliani for Governor campaign.

Here is the link to the posting:

http://www.urbanelephant.com/index.php/component/content/article/64/1031-draft-rudy.html

 They got a facebook page:

 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=92931420297

 And even a Draft Rudy for Gov website going:

http://draftrudy.com/

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