90 grand for more interns…….. They will have probably more staff than any legislature in recent history. Already staff at the county trip over each other , few of them actually do the work and the rest do campaign work on our dime….

I guess only a few either care or are even paying attention. This sets the stage for the crap they will throw at the new Collins administration. I guarantee you they will work to do more damage instead of actually doing anything to turn this area around.

Reynolds said he expected the 11 a.m. gathering to occur in secret. Legislature Democrats feel free to use the Open Meetings Law loophole that lets them meet in a private “caucus” as they wish.

But they said they never meet in secret…. they denied the accusations during the campaign…. Liars, I hate liars.

Pork still flavors Erie County budget

Erie County’s budget process again features the flavor of pork.

Lawmakers have added $90,000 to County Executive Joel A. Giambra’s proposed budget so they can hire interns for their district offices and $240,000 more for select community and arts groups.

Meanwhile, they stripped about $1 million from the increase Giambra gave the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission, which would put the politically unpopular film commissioner out of a job.

The pork allocation is small when compared with those before the budget crisis of 2004-05. For years, lawmakers who voted for the budget could bestow tens of thousands of dollars on programs within their districts to make themselves more popular.

The additions for 2008 were agreed upon by the Legislature’s Democratic majority after certain groups appealed for more. Lawmakers said Erie County Meals on Wheels, for example, made a persuasive case for a generator so it can prevent the interruption experienced during last year’s October storm.

While the additions aren’t expected to change the tax rate, lawmakers involved in the discussions said the extra spending was arranged both to help the recipients and to ensure that the budget passes with at least 10 votes, a vetoproof majority, when legislators meet at 2 p.m. today in Old County Hall.

“Is it a form of pork? Yeah,” said Legislator Thomas Mazur, D-Cheektowaga. “But it’s a form of fairness, too. Some agencies have a better opportunity to fundraise than others. Should the government be the brother’s keeper? Sometimes it makes economic sense, because if you have all these entities fall apart, where are you as a community?”

Mazur wanted $150,000 more for additional personnel at county parks, which became part of a total $300,000 increase over Giambra’s recommendation because lawmakers also set aside $150,000 to improve city parks.

Lawmakers will let the Cooperative Extension Service of Erie County and the Soil and Water Conservation Program split $10,000 more than Giambra recommended. The county’s Meals on Wheels program was given $85,000 for the generator, and $15,000 will be split by Meals on Wheels programs in Alden and Kenmore.

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