By chance, I happened to notice that on Nov. 9, The Huffington Post reported that a potential Republican challenger to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a 2014 gubernatorial race, was defeated in his reelection bid for Erie County executive. more

My last column, “Stop playing games with the budget deficit” (Feb. 3) was written one week before New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli issued his analysis of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive budget draft. The irrationality I outlined fell short of anticipating the following mea-culpa expressed in the comptroller’s analysis. “The SFY 2010-2011 enacted budget relied on $16.7 billion in non-recurring or temporary budget resources; and overly optimistic tax revenue projections, causing a dramatically worsened state structural deficit.” How dramatic? These tenuous entries constituted 30 percent of all the monies in the state’s operating fund. more

Last week, 92 percent of Long Island school budgets won public approval. Aware of the public’s anger over rising taxes, most districts held their growth down to between 2 and 4 percent. Thankfully, the voters didn’t punish the children. more

Once again, New York state’s two biggest enemies — the ravenous unions and the legislators who are afraid to vote against them — have reared their ugly heads. Love him or hate him, let’s give our lame duck governor, David Paterson, credit for taking a stand. more

President Obama is asking Gov. David Paterson, a fellow Democrat, to withdraw from the governor’s race, according to The New York Times. Paterson should consider obliging. As a matter of fact, why bother waiting until 2010? He should consider stepping down now. more