Golden in his own words ? — OR — were they Obama’s ?
— “It’s got to be balance in it. If you’re going to return money to the taxpayers and the families across our state. That’s what we’re going to do to make sure there’s a fair and balanced approach.”
Needless to say, the words above have a few more problems connected to them than State Senator Golden’s normal fractured syntax. What is the Brooklyn State Senator really trying to say and why is he trying to say it ?
First, a little contextual background — for some reason early on Friday, State Senator Martin Golden (R-C Bay Ridge- Gerritsen Beach -Marine Park) came out of a Senate GOP budget meeting and made a bee-line to Nick Reisman to dish about the current status of NYS budget negotiations; and the item at the top of Golden’s list was the push to raise New York’s minimum wage ( See “Golden: Minimum Wage Increase ‘Very Possible’ As Tax Code Talks Are Underway” by Nick Reisman, 3/15/13, YNN Capital Tonight [http://capitaltonightny.ynn.com/2013/03/golden-minimum-wage-increase-very-possible-as-tax-code-talks-are-underway/]).
In the dysfunctional way that things are done in Albany, the proposal to increase the NYS minimum wage for all workers, not just those paid for by government, is part of the negotiations for a NYS budget, whose province would seem to properly involve the annual cost of NYS government and how to pay for it. The way things stand according to Reisman’s post on Capital Tonight, “Cuomo’s $142 billion budget proposal includes a minimum wage of $8.75 up from the current $7.25.... Assembly Democrats back a $9 minimum wage that was passed in a separate bill last week and includes an index to the rate of inflation.... [and a] one-house budget resolution from the coalition-led Senate of five independent Democrats and 30 Republicans included language that said an unspecified minimum wage increase was under consideration.”
That’s where Golden stepped up to try to clarify things to Nick Reisman. According to Reisman’s quote of the Republican State Senator, when Golden was asked about the minimum wage increase, he answered, “That seems to be — it looks like it’s very possible that will be in the final version.... It’s an open issue and it’s being discussed.” Golden then explained that a phased-in increase in the NYS minimum wage remained under discussion along with off-setting the effects of that increase on NYS businesses through tax cuts and credits. That’s where Reisman’s interview with State Senator Golden turned surreal; and the white-haired, red-faced Brooklyn guy went on by channeling the POTUS himself, BH Obama, saying this: “That’s on the table.... It’s got to be balance in it. If you’re going to return money to the taxpayers and the families across our state. That’s what we’re going to do to make sure there’s a fair and balanced approach.”
Other than that strange moment the rest of Golden’s quoted lines sounded like the Marty Golden we’re all used to hearing: “We’re still looking at parts of it and we’ll see how it works out and whether it benefits the people of the state of New York or not.... That’s why it’s still being discussed. It’s an open issue.... We’re moving closer to a deal on the budget.... There are still some issues that have to be worked on and we’ll work on them through the weekend.”
That’s all Goldenese for there’s going to be an increase in the minimum wage; and as part of the “deal” for the minimum wage increase, the taxes in New York State are still going to be very high.
After losing Bay Ridge in 2012, Golden was showing that he is a reliable Democrat vote in the State Senate.on everything but a handful of social issues that won't go anywhere, Golden was using this newsman to signal the unions he was doing their bidding on the minimum wage and that the rich person's tax was staying in the budget.
ReplyDeleteObama carried Bay Ridge twice, so Golden trying to sound like him makes a lot of sense.
Since January, there has not even been the semblance of an effective Republican opposition in Albany. On issue after issue, Cuomo advances his liberal agenda, often with some bi-partisan support and always with the GOP’s cooperation in getting Cuomo's agenda-related bills to the floor of the state senate.
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