COMMENTS ON GOVERNOR PATAKI’S
STATE OF THE STATE MESSAGE
By Bob Schulz

On January 6, 1999, Governor Pataki gave his State of the State message to a joint session of the Legislature. Chief Judge Kaye and the six other judges from the Court of Appeals were seated in the front row.

The Governor said he believes in "government that remains the people’s servant, rather than their master" and he called for a spirit akin to that of the people of 1776 who confronted what he called the "forces of tyranny."

However, since actions speak louder than words, the forces of tyranny in this State are now more pernicious than they were in 1776.

The Governor is guilty of the most subtle form of tyranny -- that which disguises itself as a benefactor to its victims. Not only did the administration fail to take any steps to let the people know the constitutional question was to be on the statewide ballot in 1997, but under the pretense of caring for the people the Governor is actually wasting the fruits of their labor.

He said he has reduced the welfare rolls. Nonsense. There are more people being subsidized now than when he took over -- if you add the number of people attached to the hundreds of private corporations that have received public assistance in the form of corporate welfare over the last four years, not the needy.

He said the economy of the State and the City of New York have generated surplus tax revenues. Nonsense. The State and City surpluses have been financed. Yes! He has issued bonds and contracted debt to create the illusion of surpluses. He has borrowed more than $6 billion during the last four years -- used that money, instead of current revenues, to pay for the operation, repair and maintenance of existing facilities and programs. This freed up the billions in current tax revenues that traditionally had been used to pay for those things. He calls that "surplus" and pats himself on the back. We call it slight of hand. We also call it treason because it violates the will of the people as expressed in the Constitution. The servant has become the master. By relying on borrowing Governor Pataki is a coward. To do so at the expense of the Constitution, the rule of law and our democratic-republic makes him a tyrant, also.

He said he has reduced taxes. Nonsense. Not only has he been mortgaging more of our future tax dollars with his insidious bond issues -- in the Cuomo style -- but also government spending has increased every year since he took over. That can only mean that more tax revenues have been collected since the State doesn’t manufacture anything -- not yet anyway.

He said he has been privatizing government activity in the interest of the public good -- that it is of great benefit to all of the people of the State. Nonsense. He has been creating private monopolies that work more to the benefit of private agendas than to the public good, that have placed the State into receivership, that have worked great harm to the independent small businesses of this state and that have resulted in higher prices and lower quality of goods and services for the taxpayers of the State.

Governor Pataki’s action programming belies the rhetoric. He has established a fortress on the high ground -- a fortress made up of rhetoric. He is using the bully pulpit to hold people in ignorance.

He spoke of a "Shadow of adversity giving way to a light," and of chartering "a bold new course...driven by his determination to see that government remains the people’s servant, not their master"...and of creating "an atmosphere that is responsive to the highest demands of that spirit which drives us onward and upward."

This is nothing more than high sounding rhetoric, ephemeral, typically political gestures, pearls of wisdom dripping from the pen of a paid speech writer.

The Governor is seducing the people into believing that everything is going to be all right -- that heaven is at hand, that there is a surplus that will go on forever, that we have unlimited borrowing power, and that debt doesn’t hurt anybody.

The Governor gave his State of the State speech on January 6th. We are reminded of the events of January 6th, two thousand years ago. It has been written that three wise men went to Bethlehem bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (the salve used to anoint the dead bodies of the nobility). The Governor would have us believe that he comes with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. However, his gold comes with a price tag -- fool’s gold; his frankincense is nothing more than sweet smelling rhetoric; and his myrrh is an ointment which he uses to anoint the body of the NY Constitution for ultimate burial. How else could he have signed into law Chapters 412 and 413 in 1996 and the TFA Act in 1997, and Chapters 5 and 124 in 1998? How else could he have failed to tell the people in 1997 that the constitutional convention question was going to be on the ballot and what that meant in terms of the public good, liberty and freedom from governmental wrongdoing?

Governor Pataki is the "Magi" of today. This is a tough thing to say about the chief executive. However, if he wasn’t out to bury the Constitution he wouldn’t have signed these Acts into law.