Senator Dems Working with Gov. Paterson

This assignment was by far the hardest story that I did for my public affairs reporting class [oh em gee]. But thank goodness, my group was assisted by my professor and we finished:

Senate Dems are 'committed' to working with governor

Wednesday Oct 7 10:34 AM

By Casey Quinlan, Regina Rivers, Dana Morris, Michael McDonald and Terra Thompson, contributors to The Legislative Gazette

Senate Democrats say they are committed to working with the governor and other lawmakers in the coming weeks as leaders try to remedy the state’s estimated $3 billion budget deficit.

Austin Shafran, spokesman for the Senate Majority Conference, released a statement Tuesday following Gov. David A. Paterson’s announcement that he will try to cut $500 million from the current budget.

"We support the governor’s efforts to get spending under control. The Senate majority is committed to working with the executive and other leaders to protect New Yorkers from further tax and fee increases and to preserve vital services," Shafran said. "With real transparency and real accountability we will find the real savings we need to make New York more affordable for middle income families and small businesses."

Two weeks ago Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, proposed during a September 23 leaders meeting that the new lieutenant governor chair a meeting of the budget staffs of legislative leaders and the governor’s office to begin talks about budget reduction. The governor agreed to the plan.

In a statement released yesterday, Paterson said, “I look forward to working cooperatively with the Legislature to enact additional savings and close our current-year budget deficit.”

In recent days Kolb spoke with Paterson and Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch about the budget after complaining that both of the men had failed to return his phone calls, according to Gannett News Service. Kolb said he is uncertain whether the Democratic majority in both houses wanted to make the cuts.

To see the original posting of the article, check out http://www.legislativegazette.com/day_item.php?item=1146.

In light of me spelling out AIM instant message lingo, my next posting will be an essay of Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman and how media saturated we are as a culture; pending on the grade I receive in my Press in America course.