There are many reasons why we get the short end of the stick in Western New York with the way Albany and downstate politicians dominate the votes. No matter what the issue if downstate politicians are against it we loose. Another is gerrymandered districts. It is almost impossible to challenge an incumbent if you are a member of the opposite party. The only way is to run in primaries and to get the people out to vote.

Apathy is one of our biggest enemies. The people see that it doesn’t matter who is elected. their all the same, they vote the way they are told to vote against threats of losing pork, projects geared toward the districts and no money for their re-election. Our needs, our economic health is secondary seeing we really have no voice in Albany. The 51st state idea still dominates most debates at least among the people. They see hardly any hope in the current system.

No easy path to upstate revival

To recover economically, upstate New York needs, besides oodles of private investment, state politicians willing to put the next election aside in favor of genuine bipartisan commitment and leadership.

Never happened, you say? You know your history. But upstate surely will struggle mightily long past the recession about to crash through the door unless Gov. Spitzer and legislative leaders, particularly in the Senate, work together on solutions this year. That means policies and initiatives that eschew the quick-fix property tax rebate for homeowners or the one-shot tax credit in favor of targeted investments in emerging industries or in the knowledge economy that is the Rochester region’s best chance for the future.

The signals from Albany aren’t promising. Just days after Spitzer released his budget with upstate plans included, the Senate rolled to a vote — with minority Democrats going along for the ride — adopting its own, $3.7 billion plan that is a mishmash of business tax breaks and capital investment. While Spitzer rightly wants to hold off on any new tax rebate, Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno is a longtime advocate of them. Expect the advocacy to intensify in this legislative election year.

The best way for politicians to get off the cash-handout solution to problems is for the public to demand better. Most New Yorkers got a tax rebate in the last calendar year. Did the money go far? Has it made your life materially better this year? Do you even remember what happened to it?

And politicians hide the fact that rising taxes or fees negate the effect of rebates almost immediately. It’s three-card monte, and we’re the pigeons. And the way to stop being a pigeon is to walk away from the game — and demand it be shut down.

That’s what taxpayers should do when short-term answers are proposed to upstate’s long-term problems.

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