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EDITORIAL: Troubling fiscal moves
Feb 10, 2012 (The Buffalo News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
For a governor who campaigned on transparency and championed the same as attorney general, his latest action begs the question: What is he thinking?
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has stepped out of character with his latest move, which would give him more power over the state's fiscal affairs while avoiding those pesky checks and balances.
Cuomo apparently wants to reduce the Legislature's authority to approve "sweeps" of potentially hundreds of millions of dollars a year from different state agencies and authorities operating under his control. Even with the Legislature's current authority, New York has seen far too much "sweeping" by governors used to finance dubious spending. This is no time to make such "sweeps" any easier.
Moreover, the governor wants to sharply reduce the oversight abilities of the state comptroller, the state's chief fiscal watchdog, involving billions of dollars in public contracts each year. The comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, also a Democrat, opposes that as an attempt to weaken his review of how public money is spent.
Cuomo's move has predictably been criticized by the Legislature's top Republican, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who complained that the proposals in Cuomo's 2012 budget plan would reduce the role of legislators. He's right to be concerned.
It's difficult to imagine that Cuomo is on the best public path in his efforts to centralize contracts under the Office of General Services and exempt them from the current review and approval process.
DiNapoli points out that the contract oversight his office now provides is meant to prevent bad business deals from slipping through the cracks and damaging the state's fiscal reputation.
The comptroller has proven himself to be a sound steward of the state's financial affairs. Preventing his office from fully conducting its due diligence is ill-advised.
Cuomo seems to be having some power issues these days. The administration recently expanded the number of investigators who can look at the tax returns of state workers-- without court order or subpoenas. Critics have rightly raised privacy concerns about the move.
Checks and balances, along with a generous dose of transparency, make for good governance. We hope the governor returns to that policy.
___ (c)2012 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) Visit The Buffalo News (Buffalo,
N.Y.) at www.buffalonews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
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