Opinion

Scandal after scandal, Albany has been unwilling and unable to police itself on matters of public corruption. It is so bad that shocking headlines involving corrupt public officials have now become commonplace. Those in power are so accustomed to wallowing in the muck and mire of political corruption that it’s as if they prefer it […]

On April 1, the state faced a deadline to release a report enumerating the results of the START-UP NY program, [which sets up tax-free areas for businesses associated with colleges and universities]. But no such report has been released, which is not surprising considering the abysmal track record this governor has demonstrated with transparency and

We may not know who our next President of the United States is going to be, but here’s one thing that’s almost certain: he or she will take office with roughly half of the electorate unhappy and mistrustful. What happened to the notion that the U.S. President speaks for a broad coalition of Americans who

Tax deadline day has passed. Whew! To honor that glorious day, here is a request: All in favor of destroying the IRS, please raise your hand. Wow, look at that sea of hands. Some of you have raised both hands. I don’t blame you. Especially those who are surrendering. Getting rid of the IRS is

Dear Editor: Studies demonstrate that legislative-imposed minimum-wage programs like the one recently included in Albany’s 2016-17 budget agreement increase unemployment, drive business relocations, and undermine manufacturers’ ability to retain employees. A 2013 Bureau of Labor Statistics study found that a $1 minimum wage increase translates to a 1.48 percent unemployment increase, a 0.18 percent decrease

You say you would like to go to Philadelphia for the Fourth of July? Do you have permission to leave your home town? And, do you have permission from Philadelphia to visit? Oh, you also want to go to Bermuda in September? In other words, you want to go to jail? This is how I

Over more than three decades in Congress, I had the chance to question many federal officials. Most of the time I wasn’t after anything dramatic — I just wanted to understand who was responsible for certain decisions. How often did I get a straight answer? Almost never. It was easily one of the most frustrating

Imagine you are in school, and a teacher hands the class a 1,200-page book and says you have four hours to read it and report on it. Welcome to the New York State budget process. The state recently finalized its $154.9 billion spending plan, and did so using the most secretive, dysfunctional approach I have

We have a secrecy problem. This may seem odd to say during an era in which the most intimate details of individuals’ lives are on display. Yet government is moving behind closed doors, and this is definitely the wrong direction. In fact, I’m dismayed by how often public officials fight not to do the public’s