Paterson Announces 8,900 State Jobs To Be Cut

Photograph of Governor Paterson by Mike Groll/AP

The Associated Press reports that Governor David Paterson is "ordering 8,900 state workers be laid off after unions refused concessions amid a staggering economic downturn." Apparently Paterson had wanted the unions to forget about raises they received during the last round of negotiations and "also agree to the creation of a fifth tier in the state pension fund," according to the Daily Politics. State budget director Laura Anglin told the AP the governor "is calling for the first state layoffs since the late 1990s after unions refused to even provide counter proposals"; she also said that unions were told and may come back to the negotiating table before the state sets the budget. If not, then layoffs could start in July 1.

Paterson, who is facing a huge budget deficit due to previous years of spending and Wall Street's downturn, is something of a punching bag these days. Yesterday, the Daily News detailed how his time at Senate minority leader (before he was selected as Eliot Spitzer's running mate) was "mired in chaos, lacking clear lines of communication and hobbled by dysfunction and indecisiveness," based on a 2005 report. One former staffer said, "Leader Paterson has a restaurant maitre d' style of management - whatever the members want... Paterson is afraid of the conference; leads by consensus. This is a huge liability."

Politico's Ben Smith has a PDF of the report, which has gems like "Staff in front office read newspapers all day and get paid," "Some resent NYC employees," "There is a yes culture with Paterson," and various mentions of low morale.

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By Jen Chung in News on March 24, 2009 5:26 PM

Comments [rss]

YELLOWFOOT

Paterson is a jerk he gives jobs and raises to his friends even though we are in this mess none of you have any idea how fucked up this guy is and how much of your tax money he spends on foolish things i wish someone would investigate this guy

The Edge

Please enlighten us all with the knowledge that you seem to have that we do not.

nycnewsjunkie

Even better quotes from the report:

"At least 1/2 of the members do not want to work that hard and therefore do not want to be in the majority"

"The staff is comfortable. There are no consequences for lack of work or dysfunction. This stems from the top-the Boss"

"Put a gun up to Paterson's or MJB's head and they could not explain what senior staff does."

"Some are pushing for the majority. Others think its easy and like the way it is"

"New members are substance driven. The others are too comfortable and do not want to work hard"

HILARIOUS, well not really, since we do pay for their salaries.

kissel

rcltrh, don't worry, there are still something like 325,000 city workers and another 300,000 state (not including quasi state/private authorities and agencies), so there will still be plenty of dues to pay for all the negative commercials they will undoubtedly air to try to keep the tax payer gravy train going.

Steven

How about taking away the borough presidents? Cut some of the bloated government away.

ides_of_march

Excellent idea.

nik13

Second that. Why do we retain borough mayors? Do they do ANYTHING useful? I really like Paterson. As honest a politician as possible.

rcltrh

Bet they wish they could renegotiate those contracts now. Who will pay their union dues now?

Oxford

Paterson is the best NY governor in a generation. Finally a guy comes out and says we can't spend more than we earn and we have to stand up to entrenched special interests, and he is vilified. But of course, if it was easy to change this corrupt State than someone else would have pushed through reform already. I only hope Paterson can get some of his much needed changes through before the corrupt hoards take over yet again.

kissel

Spiritof76, I don't disagree with what your saying and I am not trying to defend him at all. I said in another post how all those new streams of taxes will be the end for him, but his taking on these unions is really a big deal. Unless someone has the sack to do it, the state is on a one way trip to bankruptcy and none of our state leaders even try.

Spirit of 76

Uh, kissel, if you hate taxes so much, why are you trying to defend a man who keeps proposing and approving new ones? This is the guy who gave us the Amazon tax. Who proposed the soft drink tax, the porn tax, the iTunes tax.

You guys really should read that report at the Politico link above. Very few staffers had anything good to say about Paterson, and this was years before the supposed Kennedy snub. I especially liked how one staffer said that if you held a gun to Paterson's head, he wouldn't be able to explain what senior staff does.

kissel

I also sympathize for the people who lost their jobs, but as a tax payer I have to say its about time. This is a small step, but its a start at getting this state under control. The city needs to do the same. Residents of this state are getting taxed at every turn and are being royally screwed by bad government. Props to Paterson for taking this on as he will now be vilified by every special interest group under the sun.

Bottomless Chips

Eliminating bureaucrats, eradicating wasteful programs, and weakening the unions?

Win, win, win.

I do sympathize with those who will be jobless, however.