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SD-46: Martland Proposes Solutions to Furlough Fiasco

by: Soundpolitic

Mon May 10, 2010 at 20:09:25 PM EDT

Tonight, the State Legislature passed the state budget extension, including a furlough for state employees one day each week. Before the vote, Democratic State Senate candidate Luke Martland made his thoughts on this perfectly clear and offered solutions to the budget crisis. The full presser:

MARTLAND OFFERS SOLUTIONS TO END FURLOUGH CRISIS
Governor and Legislature Should Begin Seven Days a Week Negotiations and Take Pay Cut Equal to Furlough
(Albany) - State Senate candidate Luke Martland today issued a list of solutions that could help solve the furlough crisis.
"The Governor's threat to furlough state workers is wrong and demonstrates the dysfunction in our state government," said Martland. "The furlough hurts hard working New Yorkers who deserve better. The effects of this furlough will be felt far beyond state workers. It will also affect every mom-and-pop business that caters to state workers and their families."
"Both the Governor and leadership of the Senate, including Assistant Majority Leader Neil Breslin, have failed these working families. Sadly, over the last two weeks while family paychecks hung in the balance, the Senate has worked only three days each week, and then taken four day weekends. Not surprisingly there is still no state budget. It's time for a new approach."
Martland proposes the following solutions to break the gridlock:
1. The Governor submit, and the legislature immediately pass, a two week extender without any furloughs or lay offs,
2. The Governor, Senate and Assembly should remain in Albany and work seven days a week until a budget is passed,
3. The Governor, all Senators and Assembly members, and all executive and legislative staff should take an immediate pay cut equal to any potential furlough,
4. If a furlough is indeed necessary to avoid fiscal ruin for the State, that sacrifice must be shared by every State worker. That means that all State workers, including all consultants and both so-called "essential" and "non-essential" employees must participate in any pay cut or furlough,
5. Any sacrifice should be imposed on a sliding scale. A worker making $25,000 and struggling to feed a family cannot afford to lose a full day's pay. Any furlough or pay cut should be imposed on a sliding scale so that lower paid workers sacrifice only a minimal amount and higher paying workers sacrifice progressively more.

"If the Governor and Legislature adopt these solutions and begin to show true leadership I believe a budget could be passed in short order," said Martland.
Emphasis mine - SP

A few words on how this bill, and Martland's statements, directly affect me below the fold...

Soundpolitic :: SD-46: Martland Proposes Solutions to Furlough Fiasco

I usually emphasize what I feel to be the most generally important points being made by a candidate based only on my own political opinions. Tonight, I emphasize portions of what Martland is saying because this furlough will profoundly affect me. As I've been out of work for well over a year, I'm lucky enough to have a mother generous enough to keep me out of the cold and fed while I continue my job search in this dastardly economy.

Just one problem: she's a state worker. So without going into detail she'd rather me not go into, I can stand as a living example of how this ridiculous furlough will effect New Yorkers beyond just the low-level office workers and laborers who will now be forced to cut their already tight budgets immediately. For me, this issue hits home, and it hits home hard.

And let me tell you, it sucks. My family isn't rich. We don't get Wall Street bonuses. We don't get our stock trading taxes back. And we certainly can't ask the insurance and banking industry lobby to contribute to our continued campaign to keep our heads above water. But Senator Breslin can...

...and that's why I think it's time for a new approach. I encourage all true progressive Democrats to visit the websites of Breslin's challengers, Luke Martland and Tim Carney, to put an end to this heartless assault on working families. None of this nonsense will change unless we change the names of those who are supposed to be representing us.

My Senator just voted to reduce my families budget 20% while he is over a month late getting his own budget passed. So this September, I'm voting him out.

Stay tuned as this primary develops even further. Carney formally announced his campaign just hours ago, and the full scoop, with some interesting surprises, will appear tomorrow.

Tags: SD-46, furlough, Luke Martland, Neil Breslin, State Senate, (All Tags)

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SD-46: Martland Proposes Solutions to Furlough Fiasco | 13 comments

Tip Jar & Cross-Post (4.00 / 2)

Tips for New York State employees.

Cross-posted on Soundpolitic (DailyKos does not seem to like numbered lists!)

by: Soundpolitic @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 00:12:25 AM UTC

by: you @ soon

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More on the blogs... (0.00 / 0)

The Albany Times Union continues to outdo itself in comparison to the last cycle's coverage. There's now easily three times as much coverage on the TU Local Politics 46th Senate District page, and plenty of additional comments about the Martland furlough proposals there...

...like, just in case this board gets boring :-)

by: Soundpolitic @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 19:56:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

amen (4.00 / 1)

I am a state worker and I commute a lot to get to the job that I love to do where I help people every day. Today myself and a co-worker taught a 65 + year old lady(and others) how to use a computer and she couldn't stop thanking us enough and confessing how much she loved us for helping her. These are the personal effects that we have on people. If I lose 20 percent of my pay it will hurt me in a big way. That one day of pay actually pays for my expenses to commute to this job. Once again, Albany just does not get it and goes after the wrong people.

by: shepherd @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 01:47:37 AM UTC

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It's not a solution (4.00 / 1)

Hate to say it, but Martland is merely proposing a process, not a solution.

That's one of the problems -- too many elected officials don't have solutions. They're very good at being outraged, but they have no clue. Not to pick on Marland, because he's only one of many, many people pulling this crap, but it's time we stopped pretending these clowns have anything to offer.

If Martland has any real ideas, come forward with them. Propose specific cuts, or specific taxes, to help close the budget gap.

Soundpolitic has proposed a specific idea -- end the process whereby traders get their stock trading taxes refunded. Great idea. Why can't candidates -- and especially elected officials -- do the same thing?

More importantly, why don't we hold candidates and elected officials to this standard? Stop reprinting press releases without showing how phony they are, and demand real solutions.

Now that I've ranted, I will also propose, not a solution per se, but a process that could lead to a solution: Require that the entire budget be put online in a way that every line item is understandable. Right now, budgets that are passed are so oblique that I guarantee you nobody knows where the money is going or what, exactly, it is being spent on. If we require that budget items be fully understandable, it will end a lot of wasteful and fraudulent spending.

by: Dan Jacoby @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 13:20:10 PM UTC

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"The process is more important than the goal" (0.00 / 0)

So says Zen Master Kaz Tanahashi at the end of a great little book entitled "Mindful Politics" in a set of Four Laws on Breakthrough, a reading I used to give to Coffee Party members back when I was the organizer in Albany County, and which went over rather well due to their wisdom.

Perhaps "Martland Offers PROCESS To End Budget Crisis" would have been a better choice of title. One solution Martland did offer was to remove the furlough proposal from the extender. Simple enough.

The rest of his proposals I like as well. Why is it that when nearly any other group of people is faced with a crisis, say a flood or a massive oil spill, that people come together and work around the clock until things have progressed from disaster to normalcy, but when a Legislature is faced with such a crisis, they still pitter-patter along? I like his "work seven days a week until this thing is solved" proposal. Not necessarily a solution, but an improvement to the process. Kind of like your online process...that would certainly make blogging about the budget easier!

BTW...I almost took offense to the whole "stop reprinting press releases" deal, but I'm guess that's a dig at politicians and not me. I picked up the idea of simply quoting the releases here, basically copying the format of other bloggers. I feel that giving the full release gives this blogs' readers an insight into the way these campaigns PR vehicles work, removing the middle-man of the corporate press. That way, readers can discern for themselves whether the campaign communications are good or bad, and can compare it to press coverage later to see if they concentrated on the substance or left something important out.

That, and now that I'm being inundated with them, I haven't got the time between my job search and lack of a personal internet connection to give them the journalistic treatment...this race is getting bizzay!

Thanks for the thoughts!

by: Soundpolitic @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 19:00:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

62 counties (0.00 / 0)

62 Counties, 62 school districts. Eliminate duplicative administrative costs that come with the almost 800 school districts currently found in the state. Simplify the education curriculum, return to basics and support the teachers with more aides and less non-essential tasks in the school day. SED takes over school buses, utilizing purchase effeciencies and deploying the existing fleet around the state as needed, based on enrollment. Abolosh the Thruway Authority, take the toll booths down and free drivers up to drive, not wait in lines to pay the tolls. Add enough to the gas tax to equal the net cost of the lost tolls, put road maintenace into DOT and pay for it with the gas tax. Eliminate excess local government, villages are not necessary. Pare down town government as well, put all road repairs and maintenance under county department, as well as law enforcement. Town government would consist of zoning and planning boards. All water also done at county level, as well as solid waste.
Eliminate all state authorities and patronage mills, put the related task back into the state budget. Reduce and eliminate outside consultants in state government, re-deploy existing state work force where needed. Complete overhaul of state work force and job duties to reflect current technology.
Real change and real results, not just more of the same.

by: theAl @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 15:51:20 PM UTC

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and while we are at it.. (4.00 / 1)

Eliminate member items from the legislature and reduce staffing levels to reflect the needs to govern the state as opposed to just ensuring re-election of members. 20 year cap on state service as an elected, whether in the legislature or a statewide office.

by: theAl @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 16:06:33 PM UTC

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That would give Breslin only four more years (0.00 / 0)

Me like-ee :-)

by: Soundpolitic @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 19:01:49 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Now we're getting started (0.00 / 0)

I don't agree with all of theAl's proposals, but at least it's a good starting point.

I'm not fond of a county-wide school district in the more populous counties, but combining costs for busing, school supplies and building materials is definitely a good idea.

Regarding the curriculum, having tutored math in NYC I can tell you that the city's math curriculum stinks -- and can attest that every teacher I've ever talked with about it agrees (and I've spoken to a bunch of them). I also highly recommend James Loewen's book Lies My Teacher Told Me, which tears high school history textbooks to shreds. I don't buy the "back to basics" approach, but prefer a robust curriculum to the lame ones that exist.

Still on the topic of education, let's stop pretending that educational achievement can be reduced to numbers -- education is an art, not a science, and the current mania for standardized tests is insane.

The idea of eliminating "public" authorities (which aren't truly public) is very attractive, as long as a mechanism is put into place to do the job better. Replacing tolls with a higher gas tax is one way, except that people passing through the state won't pay their share of the cost of maintaining the roads, since they'll just gas up in Jersey, Connecticut or Pennsylvania. I'd like to see the gas tax and the tolls raised, and the extra money spent on inter- and intra-city mass transit. That's a debatable point.

Most of theAl's other points still require specifics, but I'd favor a (private) study or three to come up with those specifics.

Anyone else have ideas?

by: Dan Jacoby @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 16:27:40 PM UTC

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I have doubts about county-wide school districts, but (0.00 / 0)

at the same time I marvel that New York didn't expect school district lines to have anything to do with other municipal boundaries. This creates odd situations for assessment, coordination, etc. Then you layer BOCES on top of all that, and...

I'd certainly consider a reorganization that went to county-wide districts for most of the state outside of NYC - which is only an anomaly because it includes five counties/boroughs.

by: simonstl @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 16:44:47 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Consolidation (0.00 / 0)

Consolidation seems like an attractive option, but whether or not it's a magic bullet remains to be seen. Yes, there are some aspects of governance that lend themselves well to merging across current boundaries, but for things like water and sewer (as an example) the services still have to be provided. Costs are not going to miraculously plummet; they will shift. Perhaps some marginal savings will result. Great. But we will be paying a different kind of cost in more remote government and less representation. I'd like to see people talk about those issues, too, instead of treating consolidation like it's an easy fix.

by: Historical Pessimist @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 18:55:48 PM UTC

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consolidation (0.00 / 0)

We have tons of government now and it has led us to the fiscal brink. The average homeowner is paying thousands in property taxes for very limited services. If we consolidate the big items like water and sewer we will save money for other uses. Can we afford the reprentation we have now? Are we being represented?

by: theAl @ Tue May 11, 2010 at 19:21:17 PM UTC

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theAl has it pretty well pegged. (0.00 / 0)

There are about 4,200 autonomous property tax levying bodies here in the empire-building state, each going its merry way in raising whatever amounts it wants to on an annual basis. Until somebody gets a handle (or leash) on all of these entities and starts to achieve the real sorts of efficiencies already alluded to through consolidation, we need to impose limits on the amount of allowable annual growth in any of these entities' property tax levies.

by: teaparty2 @ Wed May 12, 2010 at 02:14:44 AM UTC

[ Parent ]