Perhaps once every few years, the minority parties in the state Legislature actually have some power.

For Senate Democrats, that opportunity came last week, and for a little while, it looked like they would use it to the fullest extent.

In the end, under the guidance of Senate Minority Leader David Paterson, this group of self-described reformers passed up a chance to make a huge difference in the way budgets are handled in Albany.

Paterson had his charges ready to sustain Gov. George Pataki's veto of the $200 million “member item” fund in the state budget.

They were calling for disclosure of how the money in that pot would be spent, an idea that seems to make sense. Isn't it good government for lawmakers to know what they're voting on?

But in the end, these Democrats made a deal. Leaders agreed to disclose proposed uses for the money in that pot within 30 days of the money being disbursed.

And next year, they've agreed to list projects before the budget vote. Senate Democrats called it another victory for the reform movement.

That compromise, however, fails to address the fundamental problem with the member-item system.

By lumping all of these projects together, the current method makes it impossible to weed out the bad projects.

There was once a time when such expenditures were line items in the budget, but Assembly Democrats claimed Pataki was targeting Democratic projects with his veto pen.

But just as they've demonstrated they can do this year, if legislators feel a project is truly deserving, they can override any governor's individual veto.

And governors who do try to play politics with their vetoes always have to answer to the voters at some point.

The shame is Paterson and Senate Democrats (who include our own Sen. David Valesky) know these things, but chose to make a deal that falls just short of what's truly needed.