OPINION: New York Headed in Wrong Direction and Legislature Fails to Address it

Public-opinion polls repeatedly show New Yorkers believe their state is headed in the wrong direction. After five months of legislative work and $220 billion in taxpayer money spent, that wrong direction hasn’t changed. The 2022 legislative session only served as a reminder that state government is as expensive and dysfunctional as it’s ever been.

The Assembly completed its work with the State of New York still mired in crises on affordability, crime, and outmigration. The sad reality is, nothing we did this year even began to scratch the surface on addressing those issues. 

New York lost a Congressional seat and more than 300,000 residents. Crime and violence have risen in our cities without any corrective action. Skyrocketing inflation has stressed household budgets like never before, and Democrats in Albany have failed to address it in any meaningful way.

Opportunities for real change were there, but those opportunities were wasted. On too many occasions, Democrats rushed to serve their own interests rather than the public’s. As legislators return to their districts, Assembly Republicans will continue to fight for common-sense policies that improve the quality of life of their constituents and put New York on a better path.        

William (Will) A. Barclay, 53, Republican, is the New York Assembly minority leader and represents the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. The Opinion article is drawn from a statement that Barclay issued on June 4.