It's how the game is played.
The Albany Budget Preliminary Score Card:
People of New York = P versus Albany Insiders = A
first ten rounds
P-0; A-1 1. Medicaid Redesign Team was cutting the budget, but the Medicaid budget is up 9.4%
P-0; A-2 2. A cap was to be placed on local taxes, but Medicaid which is the largest budget item for Counties is up 9.4%
P-0; A-3 3. No new taxes promised, but a surcharge on medical procedures tax will raise $100 million dollars
P-0; A-4 4. The court budget was to be reduced by 10%, but a 27% increase in courts budget is likely.
P-0; A-5 5. Lobbyists were to be removed, but Jeffrey Sachs, Cuomo confidant and lobbyist, leads Medicaid Redesign Team's recommendations and then is absent on the day the previously written report is presented.
P-0; A-6 6. Cuomo promises to clean out Albany swamp and then is MIA when the Chief Judge Lippman is accused of $40 million dollar crime.
P-0; A-7 7. Proposed cap on Medical malpractice is promised, but will likely be blocked by Sheldon Silver in NY Assembly. (This is the old Albany Follies sideshow, where one part proposes and other part rejects and nothing happenings.)
P-0; A-8 8. "In the past week, health-care advocates brought in to advise Mr. Cuomo on Medicaid said he blind-sided them with back-room deals with the hospital industry and union workers."
P-0; A-9 9. "Mayor Bloomberg slammed Gov. Cuomo yesterday for unveiling a stricter teacher-evaluation plan that keeps intact the "last in, first out" law requiring that layoffs be based on seniority rather than merit.... But, if it doesn't repeal LIFO as the law of the land, it simply kicks the can down the road."
P-0; A-10 10. "Localities were quick to knock the first report ... from Mandate Relief Redesign Team, saying it falls short of the reforms needed. ...Gov. Andrew Cuomo ... is seeking to cap the growth in property taxes to 2 percent a year. Governments and schools said they would be hard-pressed to abide by the cap without having some state requirements removed." "What irked some on the 23-member panel was that while they had discussions with Cuomo's staff about the final version of the report, they only saw it minutes before it was released publicly."
Score for first ten rounds:
People of NY = 0
People of NY = 0
Albany Insiders = 10
But Hope is here:
Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Cuomo, mighty Cuomo, was advancing to the bat.
There was ease in Cuomo's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Cuomo's bearing and a smile on Cuomo's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Cuomo at the bat.
