With negotiations over how to close the state’s $3.2 billion budget deficit seemingly going nowhere, Governor Paterson proposed this morning that the state legislature grant him the power to make the necessary cuts himself. We share Elizabeth Benjamin’s befuddlement when she writes, “How or why the Legislature, which hasn’t been able to reach a deficit reduction deal with the governor and has been at odds with him over his proposed cuts … would empower Paterson in this manner is beyond me.” [Daily Politics/NYDN]
