Idiotic Blind Guy?

Long before Gov. David Paterson delivered his annual report on New York’s condition on Wednesday, everyone knew that the state of the state was desperate. New York is crippled by a mounting budget crisis and saddled with a Legislature that is incompetent in its governance and corrupt in its behavior.

 

...Mr. Paterson said he directed Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch to create a four-year budget plan to replace the year-by-year recklessness that leaves counties, cities and towns vulnerable to economic downturns like the one now paralyzing them.

 

…Here are a few of Mr. Paterson’s best ideas:

 

…To tackle the pay-to-play culture, the governor’s bill would require everybody earning public money to disclose all outside business income in detail.

 

¶…He also proposed a truly independent ethics commission to oversee all branches of the government. The state’s top politicians would appoint a “designating committee” that would then appoint the commission. That is a far cry from today’s Legislative Ethics Commission, which is made up of legislators who — to everyone’s disgust but no one’s surprise — generally find nothing wrong with their colleagues’ misbehavior.

 

New York Times Editorial Board

January 7, 2010