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November 19, 2009

Finger pointing, but no deal on NY's deficit

By MICHAEL GORMLEY

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A day after the latest missed deadline to act on a worsening $3.2 billion deficit, New York lawmakers on Wednesday found no agreement, but several ways to blame each other for inaction.

Meanwhile, Gov. David Paterson said he will soon begin planning how to deal with the worst-case scenario of no deal at all, although he remains hopeful. He said he wants to avoid the borrowing, employee furloughs, costly credit ratings damage and extreme measures of other states including selling off assets if a deal isn't struck, so New York can pay its December bills.

"I would just say that we are short resources on payments we owe for December," Paterson said. "Now, whether it involves meeting with the comptroller, the Division of Budget director to determine what ways we would actually deal unilaterally to administratively accomplish this, I'm not going to talk about that problem until it comes up.

"We are preparing for that, but I think with enough hard work tonight we might actually be able to reach agreement," he said. "That's not a prediction we are going to reach agreement (Thursday), it's just that I feel we are continuing to negotiate and we are just going to have to."

Paterson, however, has frequently said he wants a deficit reduction plan to avoid joining nearly a dozen other states that have borrowed, issued IOUs, released prisoners early, closed most libraries and sold off state buildings. He wouldn't say how long he might force lawmakers to stay in Albany to negotiate.

"I'm not going to make any long-term threats," he said with the Legislature's Democratic leaders at his side for an unrelated news conference. "But as you noticed, though it has not been done, we continue to work."

How long until a deal is struck remains a question to lawmakers who have insisted they were close to a deal for a week.

"Relatively soon," said Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson of Brooklyn, responding to a reporter's question.

How soon is that?

"In the immediate future. The not-too-distant future," he said.

Through a day of phone calls and closed-door meetings of financial staffs, little was said publicly of the fiscal crisis.

"By and large it is the Senate Republicans, particularly, in their unwillingness to negotiate in good faith on all parts of the budget that compromised our ability to close this down days ago," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Carl Kruger, a Brooklyn Democrat.

"That's what the people of the state are sick and tired of: Passing the blame," said Sen. Thomas Libous, a Broome County Republican. "It's kind of childish," he said in a separate interview. "Those kinds of comments get us nowhere and that's why we're in the situation we're in."

The Senate, where Democrats have a slim and often contentious 32-30 majority, can't even agree who has been at the negotiating table.

"There has been, on every step of the way, our earnest effort to include the Republicans in every step of the negotiating process," Kruger said.

"That certainly isn't the truth," Libous said later of the closed-door meetings between Democratic legislative leaders and the Democratic governor, until Tuesday night. "When we are invited, we're there ... we haven't been invited."

Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, a Bronx Democrat, offered another reason for inaction: "I see the governor as stumbling block," he said.

A Marist College poll on Wednesday found voters overwhelmingly blame the Legislature for inaction so far, more than three times as many who blame Paterson.

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