"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have"
Thomas Jefferson

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

One Issue - Two Views

The NY Times reported yesterday that one lone upstate Democrat, unnamed - but it was Darrel Aubertine, who held up the MTA legislation that was passed in the Senate last week for increased funding for upstate roads.

The article is here

Today, the Buffalo News editorializes that upstate is being ignored with the latest MTA/transportation legislation. See the article: Upstate gets crumbs...

Which is it?

If in fact Darrel held out and it resulted in promises for funding for upstate roads as part of a deal for his support of the MTA legislation, then he needs to come forward and tell his constituents what they can expect and what the fruits of his hold out produced.

It is called transparency in government.

6 comments:

Danny M. Francis (Eyepublius) said...

Well, the Buffalo piece sure raises eyebrows as well as questions. We need more answers.

Based on the post below "Kudos to Darrel" I noted whether it was a "Was it a done deal or not?"

Buffalo and Western NYS'ers seem to think we can put away the high-five's and try again later, or wait and see (my view).

Then again, maybe all those crumbs will be reassembled into a whole loaf, or at least half a loaf, or hell even part of a loaf for Upstate?

I'm still going to wait for the final details to lay blame or judgment or kudos on/ against anyone...

I'm cautious by nature.~ dmf

Anonymous said...

This is exactly what we we're NOT sufficiently warned about during the last election. Sure, it came up. But I believe the failure of the Republicans centers on their lack of concentration on this very issue. People should have been told, and told again, that this is what would happen if there was no more balance of power in NYS.

You didn't have to be a genius to see this coming. And you don't have to be very smart to know that this will get worse as we continue to elect a one-party government. It'll be true on the national level as well.

Anonymous said...

This is exactly what we we're NOT sufficiently warned about during the last election. Sure, it came up. But I believe the failure of the Republicans centers on their lack of concentration on this very issue. People should have been told, and told again, that this is what would happen if there was no more balance of power in NYS.

You didn't have to be a genius to see this coming. And you don't have to be very smart to know that this will get worse as we continue to elect a one-party government. It'll be true on the national level as well.

Anonymous said...

there is no funding in the bill, but a commitment that when the MTA capital plan is brought up, the Upstate Road and Bridge must also be funded.

That's good for Upstate. It ties them together as they have been traditionally.

Read the bill. The rest is a bailout for which there is no tradition. The Buffalo News has screwed up this story from day one.

Anonymous said...

"The Buffalo News got it wrong..."

"The Republicans are stopping me..."

"The Governor made me do it..."

Will Drew and Darrel EVER admit when they've got it wrong?

Anonymous said...

I warned as many as I could that a Democratic state senate would be the death knell for upstate, but Aubertine's popularity resulted in upstate being sold down the drain.

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