Thursday Clippage: SoS Edition

some things they WONT DO? (4.00 / 1)

From TU's "Silences Spoke Louder" article, the following anonymous quote speaks louder than the silences. Who the hell are these guys anyway? First, our elected representatives should act as representatives, not subjects worrying about "angering" the governer! Not if they are doing the people's work, that's their JOB. Unless they're not. Anyone of these guys that will block nonpartisan redistricting should go. The nerve of this so-called representative to say there are things they "won't do" when those things are the unquestioningly the right choices for the state. And be such a chickenshit to not go on record with their intentions.

One Assembly Democrat, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid angering the incoming governor, said the majority is in favor of about 90 percent of what Spitzer said today. And as for the rest of it, particularly nonpartisan redistricting?
"If it was Pataki, we would take his head off," the assemblyman said. "But since it's (Spitzer), we'll be polite. Very polite. He'll get his change. But there are some things we just won't do."

---

by: am @ Thu Jan 04, 2007 at 14:24:31 PM UTC

And that... (4.00 / 2)

... is one of the places where we come in.

Gov. Spitzer was very clear in both his inauguration and state of the state speeches in calling for the citizens of New York to help him get these changes through. He will meet resistance. In some cases, strong resistance. It is our job to make it clear that resistance has a large price tag associated with it.

---

by: Andrew C. White @ Thu Jan 04, 2007 at 14:41:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

One of the other (4.00 / 1)

things to take a look at is his language regarding campaign finance reform. He seemed to hedge his bets a little bit and implied a 2 stage process.

In the past Gov. Spitzer has spoken strongly in favor of Clean Money, Clean Elections and specifically cited the implementation in Maine as a model for New York.

I think it is important to bring pressure to bear on the legislature and on the Governors office to ensure that a full public financing model is implemented here in New York and not half measures.

---

by: Andrew C. White @ Thu Jan 04, 2007 at 14:49:12 PM UTC

Good Speech, but... (4.00 / 1)

I just re-read the Governor's State of the State address.  It was filled with a lot of good stuff.  If he can actually get just 1/3 of his agenda accomplished, he'll make more of an impact on one term than everything the last executive got done in twelve years.

I did notice, however, that the speech made no substantive mention of how the Governor intends to address the urgent need to overhaul state human services agencies: OTDA, The Office of Children and Family Services, Labor, OMH, OMRDD and Health, to name a few of the major players, are all still operating on a tired 20th century model built on equal parts political patronage, sclerotic unionized workforces and silo-based turf mentalities.

Now I realize that it's still just Day 4, and there's only so much you can cram into a single speech.  But these human services agencies are all a mess...directionless, poorly managed, buraeucratic, incoherent and almost wholly lacking in vision. They constitute a huge part of the state budget, yet year after year they provide few quantifiable successes.  Think I'm exaggerating? Ask yourself: Do any of out worker retraining programs work?  Have our juvenile justice recidivism rates declined at all?  Has New York done anything of substance to substantially raise the pay for, and quality of, human services providers such as caseworkers, clinicians and facility staff? Is anyone happy with subsidized day care in NYS? How many more youths have to die in one of our state juvenile rehab facilities because they've been choked to death by facility staff who aren't otherwise qualified to work at the local McDonalds?

Over the past ten years, our state's human services departments have increasingly been used by the executive branch as opportunities for cost savings.  The previous Administration decided that if it "block-granted" federal transfers the counties the way the states receive much of their federal allocations, it could disguise its overall cuts in money flowing to local governments for such things as child care subsidies and family assistance.

Now, state-to-county block grants are not necessarily a bad thing.  Maybe the counties should be forced to make more of the hard choices about how they want their finite human service dollars prioritized and allocated.  But without across-the-board reform, merely cutting, block granting and leaving the rest up to the locals is a recipe for disaster.

The Spitzer Administration needs to take a long hard look at the way our state human services departments are organized.  For just one example: Many juvenile offenders currently in custody at state facilities need intensive mental health services.  But OMH has had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to supply a limited number of beds to OCFS youth in need. 

Now arguably, if I were OMH, I wouldn't want to waste my limited beds on an agency as poorly run as OCFS.  But in the 21st century, everyone has pretty much come to a consensus that to reduce recidivism and actually rehabilitate the juvenile offenders in state care, you have to be able to treat them across a wide range of issues: rehabilitative, educational, mental health, substance abuse, housing, aftercare, independent living and job training services to name a few.  Plus, their parents, caregivers and extended families also need various counseling services if we're serious about making sure these kids don't just fall back into the neverending cycle of violence and low expectations.

Is Governor Spitzer willing to put all this on his crowded plate?  I hope so.  The last governor seemed to regard these agencies as mere backwater spider holes...good only as dumping grounds for political hacks, patrons and broken wings too dumb or radioactive to be situated anywhere else in the executive branch. 

The children and families in need, the marginalized, the troubled and the forgotten among us need and deserve better from our government.  And I'm not just talking about more money for human services.  That's just a small fraction of the answer.  What they need most of all is our renewed focus, energy and vision.  They need us to care a little again.

---