Shout Out to Kenny Lovett, Albany's Star Reporter

The Disgruntled Taxpayer blog loves it when a member of the mainstream media throws it down hard to the powers that be. That is what Kenny Lovett does in his recent story about Governor Patterson's tax hikes. Kenny is a man who always spoke truth to power, from his yeoman days as a sports writer for the Plainview High School student newspaper, through his work with a weekly known as the Plainview Herald.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/12/20/2008-12-20_aw_that_4bs_not_so_taxing_skip_optional_.html

Governor Patterson, New York's gubernatorial replacement for the "whore monger in chief," apparently wants to kill New York's economy with "a thousand paper cuts."

Patterson proposed 137 new taxes and fees on everything from shoes, clothing and soda to movie tickets, music downloads, car registration and insurance. Patterson was a guy who never passed the NY State Bar Exam and proposed laws in the State Legislature which would allow people to "resist" police efforts to arrest them, and require police to "shoot to stop" when confronted by violent street urchins, so thinking that this stuffed suit who can't take a joke on SNL actually has the brains to run the State was a bit of a flight of fancy.

Mr. Lovett's excellent article notes Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco (R-Schenectady), who says the extra fees and taxes would cost an average family of four nearly $4,000 a year, said Paterson's description of the taxed items as optional "boggles my mind."

Another one of my political heroes, Conservative State Chairman Michael Long, had some interesting words to say about Patterson's whacky proposal. Mr. Lovett quotes Chairman Long as saying:

"I can't imagine seeing all of New York walking around barefoot," Long said. "There is nothing optional about what he's done to the working-class citizens of this state."

Here is the problem with the Governor's "deaf dumb and blind" tax and fee hikes which even a reporter as smart as Kenny, and a political observer as astute as Chairman Long did not catch: Patterson's s $4B anticipated revenue is simply a projection and fiscal sleight of hand meant to artificially close the budget deficit gap. The most likely result of these tax and fee hikes is that they will not reach this Four Billion dollar bench mark. With a weak economy, and tax hikes passed onto the public, fewer people will go out to movies, and people will stop buying soft drinks, or buy less of them. Consumers will download less music.

Governor Patterson might be better served by reducing taxes and fees and trying to stimulate consumption. But of course he just wants to have nice little numbers that the other flaks in Albany think will balance the budget, but of course will not.

My favorite of is course the car registrations and insurance. Here is where Governor Patterson proves that he is not only out of touch and blinded by his liberals, but he isn't even street smart. I think Curtis Sliwa would appreciate this observation.

One of the more popular insurance scams is for folks to register their vehicles out of state and purchase insurance out of state. Patterson's fee hikes and subsequent rate increases in this area will most likely be met by more shaky folks moving their vehicle registrations to phony out of state addresses. You already see this behavior among insureds in who live in urban areas which are considered "high accident risk" areas. But I forgot, the Governor grew up on Long Island, and lives upstate. Patterson is also the son of one of the most powerful labor lawyers in the State, and never really had to roll around with the little people.

The sad thing about this story is that the principal political opponents of this mischief do not have the power to halt Patterson and his mad schemes. We are left to rely upon the beneficence of the Liberal Democratic Leader of the Assembly Majority, Sheldon Silver, and whoever the Democrats pick to lead the State Senate, now that they have assumed control over that body as well.

Tedisco has many good things to say but he is a minority leader in a veto proof majority Assembly. He has a soap box and little more. Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) is similarly limited.

Chairman Long is both a wise and influential voice in New York, but he is not one of the "three men in a smoke filled room who decides New York's public policy," namely the Governor, the Assembly Speaker, and the Senate Majority Leader, all of whom promise to be Democrats in 2009, barring some bizarre realignment in the State Senate, and the apparent inability of its leadership to get its act together.

"I can't imagine seeing all of New York walking around barefoot," Long said. "There is nothing optional about what he's done to the working-class citizens of this state."

This may be a dark hour for those of us who live and work and spend our lives in New York, and who want to continue to enjoy a good standard of life.

Of course, the kicker is that Patterson drops this little bomb while he was in Iraq visiting the troops with some local congressmen who are probably kissing his butt to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate.

God save us all from David Patterson's short sightedness.