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Jan 9, 2008 2:25 pm US/Eastern
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Gov. Spitzer Delivers 'State Of The State' Address
Calls For Jobs, 'Real' Property Tax Relief
ALBANY (CBS) ―
Gov. Eliot Spitzer reached out to political opponents, called for a powerful commission to study a long-sought cap on local school spending, and recommended free public college tuition for returning combat veterans on Wednesday in his "State of the State" Address.
"I will meet you with an open hand, an open door, and an open mind. For we will realize this opportunity best if we work together in a spirit of cooperation," the governor said.
Spitzer named Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, his Democratic primary opponent from 2006, to head a bipartisan commission to study the long politically unpopular option of capping local school and government spending.
Although advised by economists for decades as a critical way to reduce New Yorker's nation leading tax burden, Albany politicians have avoided the mandate on local communities and instead provided billions of dollars in relief without requiring that it directly reduce tax bills.
"Experience has taught us that we need stronger medicine," Spitzer said to say. "A rebate check may temporarily ease the pain, but it doesn't cure the disease. In the end, it's a losing game for the taxpayer if the state gives you a rebate check on Monday and then on Tuesday your local government taxes it away."
He called a spending cap "a blunt instrument, but it forces hard choices and discipline when nothing else works."
The commission, with the power to subpoena records and compel testimony, will examine the state's unfunded mandates primarily on schools outside New York City, find ways to cut costs in school instruction, and make tax relief more effective for middle class families.
The other large city school districts of Yonkers, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, which are run by city governments and depend only partly on property taxes, could see separate caps or no cap at all, said Spitzer's director of state operations, Paul Francis.
Francis said school taxes have grown 7.3 percent a year for five years despite billions in state tax relief.
Spitzer, who fought bitterly at times with Suozzi in the governor's race, called the Long Island Democrat a champion of lower taxes.
Spitzer also thanked Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno, with whom the governor has fought since June; Republican Sen. George Maziarz of western New York, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and several Democrats. Spitzer will credit them for accomplishments in his first tumultuous year.
Spitzer began the speech to the joint session of the Legislature with a moment of silence for Bruno's wife, Barbara "Bobbie" Bruno, who died Monday. She and Bruno were married 57 years. The 78-year-old Senate majority leader wasn't expected to attend the annual speech because of his wife's death.
"Last year, although our differences often attracted more attention than our agreements, we came together to produce real change where progress had eluded the state for years," Spitzer said. "These, all of them, are shared accomplishments. All New Yorkers will benefit from them, and I thank you."
In the midst of the usual State of the State calls for bipartisanship, Long Island Republican Sen. Dean Skelos noted that the "number one job" of the Senate's GOP majority continues to be acting as a check on the governor, "not to blindly follow the executive."
The annual speech was about ideas. The hard choices Spitzer called for will begin Jan. 22, when he proposes his second budget to the Legislature. That will have deal with a $4.3 billion deficit, and declining revenues because of a slowing economy.
Spitzer will also still have to deal with lawmakers, including some Democrats and all in an election year, still stinging from his first year when he targeted them as part of Albany's status quo that needs changing.
Spitzer and Bruno have promised no tax increases, but are expected to rely on raising fees and Spitzer may close what he considers tax loopholes in business taxes to raise revenue.
Among Spitzer's ideas are:
--A legislative proposal to provide a tuition waiver for returning combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan at any State University of New York or City University of New York campus. "We owe them the chance to enjoy the freedoms and opportunities at home they have so honorably fought for overseas."
--An endowment of at least $4 billion, which would generate $200 million a year, to fund SUNY and CUNY. That could come from a lease of perhaps 40 years with a private firm to operate the state lottery after making an upfront payment of tens of billions of dollars. The deal, however, would continue to provide about $2.1 billion in revenue for schools with annual growth while creating a $4 billion endowment for higher education. The state would continue to regulate all lottery games and any new games, Francis said.
--Further spending to provide health care for all New York children, with a greater focus on preventing costly conditions including asthma and obesity. This will include changing the traditional Medicaid funding formula away from high reimbursement for hospital care to encourage prevention and primary care.
--A program to help pay off student loan bills for physicians who agree to work in underserved urban and rural areas.
--$400 million to build lower-cost housing, particularly in high-cost areas in and around New York City. The administration funded 3,800 units last year.
--A $1 billion fund to help revitalize upstate downtowns and to help businesses, build roads, create "shovel-ready sites" to attract new employers.
"For years, upstate economic development was characterized by halfway measures and piecemeal projects," Spitzer stated. "We now have a vision. If we can come together around this plan, we will have the capital to fulfill it ... and create an upstate whose best days aren't behind it, but are ahead of it."
--Name the Triborough Bridge connecting Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx for slain presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
Ethel Kennedy, the widow of the late U.S. senator, was expected to attend the speech along her son Robert Kennedy Jr. and daughter Kerry Kennedy, the former wife of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
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