Pataki to veto budget reform
ALBANY — Gov. George Pataki’s office Monday signaled he would veto a budget overhaul bill lawmakers have said would improve timeliness, increase accountability and control spending and debts.

The measure also would shift some budget-making power from the governor’s office to the Legislature.

“This so-called budget reform bill is a transparent attempt to revive what the governor vetoed twice and the voters soundly rejected last November,” spokesman Michael Marr said, referring to a constitutional amendment on the 2005 ballot.

The GOP-led Senate and Democrat-controlled Assembly passed a new version last month. Its provisions wouldchange the fiscal year from April 1 to May 1, require the governor, Legislature and comptroller to begin discussions about revenue forecasts and spending projections earlier, by Dec. 5., and establish an independent budget analsis office.

Marr said the 2006 version still fails to force the Assembly and Senate to employ joint panels, to iron out differences on bills and also fails to create a truly independent budget office because the leaders of the Assembly and Senate would jointly appoint the director.

Spokesmen for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said they hoped the governor ultimately would sign the bill.

This is just another part of that bill we voted down last year. It is the Constitutional duty of the governor to put the budget together, not the legislature.

They will try every scheme possible to remove the power from the gov and run us further into the ground.