Gov. Eliot “The Don” Spitzer has made a proclamation from on high. The Don is going to prance down the main streets of a few upstate cities and throw out dollar bills like confetti. Local politicians are salivating like suckling pigs jockeying for position to get the biggest meal from the bloated sow that is the New York taxpayer funding this madness.

At the Governor’s “State of Upstate” speech on Wednesday, Spitzer’s answer to “revitalizing” the upstate region of New York–which is everything west of the Hudson River–is to throw around bucketfuls of taxpayer money. According to the Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Much of Spitzer’s speech, delivered in Buffalo, focused on revitalizing upstate New York as a whole, including a $350 million “regional blueprint fund,” part of a $1 billion initiative he introduced in Albany last week in the traditional State of the State address. He said the fund would:

• Commit $100 million to housing and community development, and $50 million to agriculture.
• Help prepare business sites for development, and clean contaminated “brownfields.”
• Create a $10 million venture-capital fund and bolster a small-business loan program.
• Improve marketing of the state in Canada and other nations.

Spitzer is also proposing to raid the New York State lottery, which exists to “help fund education”–so he can…help education. Huh? That’s right. He wants to “borrow” $4 BILLION from the Lottery. He’ll set up a nice little fund (i.e. invest the money) so it will, presumably, throw off some $200 million in cash each year to be shared around the state’s 64 universities and colleges. All sorts of ’skimming’ opportunities with that one, eh?

In speaking about The Don’s performance, Broome County Economic Development Director Darcy Fauci said, “This shows that New York state is fully committed. The governor is not blowing smoke.” I beg to differ Ms. Fauci. The only thing Spitzer is committed to doing is bankrupting every last taxpayer in the state.

What does New York need?

Less welfare.
Less Medicaid.
Less public funding of everything.
Less regulation.
Less taxes.
Less socialism.

You know what? As a baby step, I’d settle for an immediate freeze on school, property and state income taxes! Just stop raising taxes right now–and keep it that way for the next five years. And take away one or two options from the Cadillac Medicaid program. But then, I have big dreams, don’t I?

Oh, and there’s one more thing we need less of…Eliot Spitzer. But we’ll have to wait until the next election to make that adjustment.

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