Opinion

While not directly related to New York State (NYS) fiscal issues, some of the biggest policies included in this year’s state budget were changes to our state’s criminal-justice system. The largest of those changes was the elimination of cash bail for most crimes other than certain qualifying offenses. The elimination of cash bail has been […]

New York’s property taxes are the highest in the nation. Tragically, this year’s state budget, instead of trying to provide some tax relief to our already overburdened property owners, makes ill-conceived changes to the one state program that is actually designed to provide property tax relief. That is the STAR (School Tax Relief) Program. The

I became active in politics in the late 1950s, got elected to Congress in 1964, and have remained engaged in one way or another every year since then. So I suppose I should not be surprised that I get asked a lot these days how American politics have changed over the last six decades. A

Was America ever great? Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder poses the question: “Exactly when did you think America was great?” He competes with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as Cuomo once told us: “We’re not going to make America great again. It was never that great.” Let’s review that question. But first, let’s admit

Sometimes being an elected official can be challenging because you are forced to make difficult decisions. At times, I have had to vote on legislation that if enacted would have both a positive and negative effect on my district and the constituents I represent. In the past, voting on the state budget often created this

The 2019-2020 enacted state budget is a tax-and-spend debacle and precisely the fiscal disaster many predicted would follow the new one-party Democratic rule in Albany. The apparent economic strategy of New York Democrats is simple: “Put a tax or fee on everything you see.” Grocery bags, internet purchases, vapor products, real-estate transactions, prescription medication, rental

Here is a surprise: the skills that can be used to win in politics are increasingly the skills needed to produce good policy. I know: you look at the policy stalemates in Washington and wonder how this could be. The people who arrived there by winning elections haven’t shown much in the way of policymaking

June worked for me. Many years ago. We worked for a company owned by Harry. And Harry came out with a number of changes that would save money for the company. Problem is they would harm our workers. My job was to explain the many details of the changes — to a gathering of our

To the Editor: My college career began as a 21-year-old, a few years late in seeing the light, but then laser-focused on achievement versus simple sustenance. Broome Community College (BCC) — now called SUNY Broome — offered me the best options.  I attended school full-time during the day, and worked full-time at a 2nd shift

Our local roads and bridges are in need of serious investments. New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli forecasts $89 billion in unmet local infrastructure needs over the next 20 years with as much as $27.4 billion needed for bridges alone. The responsibility to take care of these major infrastructure costs, however, lies on the backs of local