In a month that generated a lot of excitement as Nancy Pelosi was sworn-in as the first female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Democrats took command of the U.S. Congress after 12 years on the back benches, it was New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer who commanded the greatest attention, Jan.1, when he took his oath of office and on the same day rolled out a series of self-imposed ethics, campaign finance and lobbying reforms.

Gov. Spitzer takes the oath of office, administered by Manhattan Federal Judge Robert Sweet, whom Spitzer clerked for in 1984, as his wife Silda looks on.

If New Yorkers didn’t get the message the first time that this governor was serious about overhauling state government, Spitzer made it clearer two days later, when he outlined a reform agenda in his State of the State Address that introduced sweeping reforms in the areas of ethics and greater accountability for the use of tax dollars, in addition to revitalizing the economy, by cutting property taxes, spending more on education and expanding health care.

Speaking before an audience of New York lawmakers and prominent leaders in Albany’s Assembly Chamber, Jan. 3, the corruptionbusting former state attorney general made no apologies for making government ethics reform his priority. He reminded his audience that he had campaigned for and won a landslide election on the promise to shake up state government, and declared: “Today marks the next step in our journey.” Charging that “our government is in disrepair,” he challenged the lawmakers to follow his lead because “New Yorkers didn’t whisper for change on Election Day; they shouted for it,” and “all are responsible for changing it.”

To the skeptics, Spitzer declared: “New Yorkers have resoundingly rejected the status quo — the politics of partisanship and polarizing ideology.” He added, “As the world has been transformed and moved forward, it is only Albany that has stood still… New Yorkers have embraced change — the idea that on Day One of this administration, those of us in this chamber must come together to face our challenges as one.”


An "Ambitious" Plan

The governor’s grand plan, which he himself described as “ambitious,” focuses on two key areas: government reform and revitalizing the state economy. He identified government reform as his “first objective,” adding that “if our state is to prosper again, we need a government that is a catalyst for change instead of an impediment.” To do so, Spitzer said he would introduce legislation to overhaul the state’s campaign finance, lobbying and election laws.

In addition to ethics reform, Spitzer said he would submit constitutional amendments that would enable him to “implement structural reform at every level of government to make it more flexible and adaptive to change.”

One such amendment would target the state’s judicial system, which the governor described as “the most complex and costly court system in the country.” He said he plans to introduce a constitutional amendment that incorporates earlier recommendations by New York State’s chief judge “to consolidate and integrate” the State court system, “a system that too often fails to provide justice while imposing an undue burden on taxpayers.”

As part of his plan to revitalize the economy, Spitzer’s reform package includes cutting property taxes, increasing spending on education and expanding health care. He said he would submit a “new, transparent school-funding formula” for prekindergarten through 12th grade in his Jan. 31 budget plan that “dramatically increases investment over the next four years,” and would force school districts to “show where that money is spent and whether it’s getting results — with consequences for failure and success.”


Far-reaching Health Plan

While closing underused hospitals, and cutting spending on “expensive” nursing homes in favor of “home-based alternatives,” Spitzer said his health care plan would guarantee access to health care “for all New York’s 500,000 uninsured children” in his first year in office. And, within four years introduce a “new streamlined enrollment process that guards against fraud, and enroll the 900,000 uninsured Medicaid-eligible adults.”

“Call it ambitious, call it common sense — there is a lot wrong with the way New York conducts business,” said Local 237 President Carl Haynes. “Spitzer has put forth many good ideas to move our state forward, but it’s anyone’s guess how well he will work with the Legislature to accomplish his goals. We have to wait and see.”

Haynes added that there are some concerns among unions about how the governor will find the money to do some of the things he has outlined. Haynes said he expects that any changes to the Workers’ Compensation program would simplify and make the process easier to navigate for injured workers.

“It’s always been the case that when government increases spending in one area, it ends up taking money from one pocket and putting it into the other, and it’s usually the working families that suffer the consequences,” Haynes asserted. “Certainly the state needs to provide greater aid to distressed cities and towns and provide more funding to distressed schools, and make health care accessible to all. My hope is that the governor will be more creative and we will see bipartisanship in the budget process in Albany in the next few months.”