Free Republic

Washington has responded to the unprecedented economic disruptions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic with extraordinary measures to bolster our nation’s health-care system, keep businesses afloat and support tens of millions of unemployed Americans. Given the vast scope of the public health and economic challenges we face, our federal government must go further. Federal aid for state and local governments that matches the depth of the crisis is urgently needed. The language of “revenue shortfalls” and “fiscal cliffs” used to describe these challenges may seem distant from the concerns of New Yorkers who are struggling to pay their bills and...

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's campaign has reaped more than $340,000 from law firms seeking legal work from his agency, The Post has learned. The massive sum from firms that represent -- or are in line to represent -- the Comptroller's Office in lucrative class-action lawsuits accounts for 8 percent of DiNapoli's entire fund-raising haul since 2008. Such firms have collected hundreds of millions in legal fees in recent years, drawing cries of "pay to play" from critics of how DiNapoli and his predecessors have managed the state's $125 billion pension fund. Donations to the state's top fiscal officer have come under...

If Gov. David Paterson and state legislators continue to do nothing about the way they spend money, the state’s general bank account will be $1 billion short at the end of December, according to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the man who writes the checks.... The state has already dipped into its short-term investment pool, or cash reserves, for $5 billion. There is not enough left to raid. It is an option for the state to borrow money, but DiNapoli says the state has borrowed enough for cash-flow emergencies. In fact, the state already owes $10.4 billion to bondholders for the...

ALBANY—Cross $115 million off the list. In his 30-day amendments to the proposed budget, David Paterson revised down the deficit in the current fiscal year to $1.6 billion, due to "unanticipated miscellaneous revenues from settlements by the Attorney General with UBS ($75 million) and Citigroup ($50 million) related to the sale of auction rate securities" less $10 million in additional spending for debt service. So that means legislators have some extra wiggle room in the first salvo of dealing with the deficit, which will take place over the next few weeks. David Paterson has said he hopes lawmakers will deal...

ALBANY, Feb. 8 — Pity the New York State lawmaker, if only for a moment. For years, the state’s senators and Assembly members have been widely tarred as barely competent time-servers, hostage to their all-powerful leadership and resistant to change. Two years ago, a study deemed New York’s the most dysfunctional state legislature in the entire country. Last month, a panel that was asked to pick finalists for the vacant state comptroller’s office passed over several Assembly members angling for the job, suggesting they were unqualified. For a crowd where aspirations to higher office are common, it was the last...