Cynthia Nixon, candidate for Governor, released the following statement on the budget process at 8:05 PM:
Under Andrew Cuomo, the state budget process has routinely become known as the “Big Ugly,” and this budget sounds like it will be particularly ugly for everyday New Yorkers. Instead of an open and transparent process with a public debate on the issues, Cuomo’s budget cobbles together a series of backroom deals. When sexual harassment legislation was negotiated, the only woman legislative leader in the state was shut out of the room, but a man being investigated for sexual harassment was part of negotiations. A major policy change on school budgets that would undermine local control and give Governor Cuomo unprecedented power to veto local school budgets is being decided without any input from local voters or parents. And Governor Cuomo is allowing essential reforms like tax hikes on multimillionaires, bail reform, and early voting to drop off the table altogether. Andrew Cuomo promised to clean up the corruption in Albany, but instead he has doubled down on secretive backroom deal-making, in a process driven by whatever soundbite will make the Governor look good, not by the budget that is good for New York families and workers. No wonder it’s called the “Big Ugly.”
