New Yorkers Need Priorities

ROCHESTER - It is expensive to live and do business in New York State. I know that and you know that. But is cracking down on Dan Gundersen's eating and meeting habits going to fix that? No. For the yet to be informed, the Democrat and Chronicle ran an article today about the 'questionable' spending habits of our Upstate Economic Czar, Dan Gundersen. He has wined and dined business leaders, local economic development leaders, and other local officials. Gosh darn it, he even paid to leave his car parked in Buffalo, not too far from his office (where presumably parking is free and doesn't put money into the economy)! We New Yorkers need to get our priorities straight. We have bigger fish to fry, but bigger fish are hard work, so, I guess, let's pick on the guppy.

I understand the underlying issue with Gundersen's use of the State credit card. If every official spent $400 to treat 10 people to dinner in Watertown, the State would be broke. Unfortunately, we are already broke, and $400 is not going to fix that. Keeping all government in the sunshine is a good thing and maybe in the future Gundersen makes the Commander at Fort Drum cover the tip because he doesn't want the entire State to know he is an overgenerous tipper (who says one man can't refuel Upstate!).

The real hypocrisy will always come from the private sector, of course. Government is always being told it would be better run as a private company. Hopefully not like Enron or GM, but whatever. Let's pretend for a second that 9 out of 10 American companies don't fail in their first year and that the private sector always runs as smoothly as an American airline (just not American Airlines because, well, you know...) and that government should copy the business practices of the private sector. It seems as if Gundersen is all over this and ahead of the curve. Or in corporate-ese he is thinking outside the box to synergize existing partnerships while making focused investments yadda yadda yadda. The three olive lunch is a staple of the corporate world. He is acting like every other businessman in the world. Shocking to see someone with a financial interest treating someone else to a meal and, gasp!, an adult beverage. What next? Will Gundersen have the nerve to talk to some CEO over some golf? I hope not because that is not how government should be run. Unless of course you think government should be run like a private company, in which case Gunersen needs to buy some wicked ugly pants and hit the links.

Let us also not forget the tax breaks we give to private companies to locate, relocate, and promise not to blackmail us already in the State. If Gundersen spent that $400 at a Maggie Brooks fundraiser, he could relocate himself to Monroe County and pay no property taxes. Both locally and on the State level we continually bribe companies with cheap power, property tax abatements, demolition efforts, etc. to keep them from leaving for greener pastures. Sometimes they are even nice enough to pretend they will create more jobs if we buy them that shiny new machine dealie that makes stuff. But since we don't actually hold them accountable for the public money they take, aren't we wasting our money anyway? And in much larger amounts?

The root of the problem is a bad economy that pits regions against each other and States against each other. Only the private companies benefit. They start bidding wars and see who will give them the most free stuff. They blackmail governments into no taxes and publicly funded improvement projects. Private companies never receive these type of benefits in the private sector. If Kodak went to Xerox and said, 'Hey, can we have some money to build a new wing at our plant? It may or may not create some new jobs but either way we won't pay you back." Xerox would likely tell Kodak to play in traffic. But since government isn't the private sector, the government lets them have the money and hope for the best.

New York State has to solve the problem of being expensive to live and do business in. Treating the symptoms never cures the disease. Tax breaks can't do it, busting Gundersen's balls won't do it, and whiny public interest groups don't do it. If we made New York a cheaper place, businesses would move here because it makes business sense, not because Gundersen bought Alan Mulally a glass of Torrey Ridge Baco Noir or because Monroe County gave them an empty building for free. As New Yorkers, we must revisit our priorities and realize that until we do the heavy lifting of true reform, who cares about the spending habits of one individual? Especially the one guy who is working hard (and fueling the economy one meal at a time) to revive Upstate.

Government can not be run as a private company, nor should it be. Running government selectively as a private company is disastrous for its citizens and unfairly benefits private companies. In tough economic times, the government should only focus on services that benefit all citizens and should not be left to the unreliable corporate world: public education, public safety, public health and public transportation. Everything else is a luxury. And at this time, luxuries we can't afford.