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

On April 5, New York state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released a report showing that the state has, for decades, masked budget deficits by “shifting funds dedicated to a specific cause or … more

The Aug. 12 issue of the Herald alerted readers that I was a “Man on a Mission” calling for the reform of New York’s dysfunctional state government. Sounds like a promo for one of those serial … more

As I have mentioned in previous columns, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which consists of over 71,000 employees, is, without question, the most beleaguered, problem-prone and costly … more

During his campaign, Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo’s transition team released a detailed and well-annotated report outlining plans for “Rightsizing Government.” The report’s findings and recommendations reiterate much of what the previous columns in this series have suggested: that New York state’s Public Authorities and agencies have “become too big, too expensive, and too ineffective — an ever proliferating tangle of boards, commissions, councils, departments, divisions, offices, task forces and public authorities, [that] the taxpaying public can no longer afford.“ Amen. more

Back in early August, I began to consider writing a series of columns on reforming New York’s dysfunctional state government. Friends and neighbors were not aware of my interest in this subject; others suggested that no amount of disclosure and transparency could possibly make a difference. more

Back in early August, I began to consider writing a series of columns on reforming New York’s dysfunctional state government. Friends and neighbors were not aware of my interest in this subject; others suggested that no amount of disclosure and transparency could possibly make a difference. more

As I’ve mentioned in my four prior columns, our state authorities and agencies are not sufficiently accountable to the public. In the past decade alone there have been multiple reports by the state Comptroller’s office, governors’ commissions and public sector watchdog groups about this. Efforts to legislate greater accountability by officials who have focused their attention on authorities have met with limited success. more

As the New York Times reported on Sept. 11, at the insistence of the S.E.C. “New Jersey agreed never again to fraudulently hide its underfunding of the state's public pension system.” Hide or not, many states (including New York) have invested too little money in public pension funds. This represents a huge hidden liability for both current and future taxpayers. more

As I mentioned in my previous column, "Reforming New York's dysfunctional state government" (Aug. 12-18), reforming state affairs will be easier said than done, requiring political support across party lines. “New Yorkers are frustrated with their government, with the economy, with politics, with the way things are today,"Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver recently said. Not exactly a mea culpa. But apart from Silver, someone's gotta do something! more