This statement is from the post at the source and is from a state worker. This is exactly where I stand on thew issue of cutting state, county and local government jobs. The people that are the workers end up getting cut, where the cuts need to be made are in the bloated management and political appointees. You know, the fat asses that do nothing but collect a paycheck, hang in there for the pension and benefits and work on campaigns… Ya, them. That is where the real waste is.

Invariably, those kinds of tactics from the governor’s office tend to disproportionately affect the low-level, front-line state service providers rather than the bloated upper management sectors that are largely comprised not of civil service state workers, but rather appointees (usually making well upwards of the $60k mark).

By all means Governor, cut the state workforce as needed… the bureaucracy could use some serious pruning. Just be sure when you do that you’re trimming the dead branches rather than forcing agencies to hack away at the trunk.

wnyt.com - State workers react to governor’s speech

ALBANY- Gerald Mizejewski watched the governor’s live address on a big screen Tuesday in a main concourse at Empire State Plaza. A scientist at the State Health Department, he liked what he heard.

“I think it’s a good thing. I think we should be told the truth. And the truth is raw. It’s tough,” he said

Many people were on their way home and didn’t see it.

But as people digested what Paterson had to say, there was also worry about dire times ahead.

“It doesn’t sound good at all. Sounds like a lot of doom and gloom for quite a while to come, I think,” said state employee Cathy Barrows, who works in the personnel department.

One of Paterson’s statements in the speech did spell gloom and doom for some.

“My administration will confront the following issues — the size of the state workforce…”

It was a statement that two unions pounced on.

“This kind of stuff is shortsighted! It’s not the way you keep an economy healthy by taking people out of the workforce,” said PEF spokesman Louis Matrazzo.

Matrazzo is Vice President of the state Public Employees Federation. He blasted Paterson for even considering job cuts.

“One thing we are determined: we will fight lay-offs with everything we have,” he said.

In a statement released by CSEA President Danny Donahue, he said “Governor Paterson’s talk of reducing the state work force to solve New York’s fiscal problems is nothing but a sham. There are better ways to address fiscal challenges than laying off working people in a troubled economy.”

But one of those 266,000 state workers said Paterson’s basic message is the right one.

“Tighten your belt everyone. We’re doing it at home. We’ll do it in the state,” said Gerald Mizejewski.