The release of Gov. Eliot Spitzer's first solo budget (last year's process was started by his predecessor, George Pataki) starts the budget process off with the governor in a worse negotiating position than last year.

While it should not be discounted, especially with the entire Legislature up for re-election this fall, that the budget will be adopted on time, getting to that point will likely be a raucous journey.

The governor started last January in Albany with enormous goodwill and hope, that the “same old” would change from Day One. Coming off one of the biggest statewide election wins in history, he could only go down in voters' estimation. While that was expected, it is doubtful that anyone could have imagined the freefall that makes Wile E. Coyote's plummets in a Road Runner cartoon look almost graceful.

At first it was alienating members of his own party, including Assemblyman William Magnarelli (D-Syracuse), who eventually lost his race for Onondaga County executive three months ago, over the appointment of a new comptroller. Then it was Troopergate which, in a miracle of all miracles, made Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselear) a sympathetic figure. The governor topped off his trifecta of political disasters with his stand on driver's licenses for illegal aliens.

This series of political disasters alone would put the governor in a weak negotiating position, when it comes to the budget, but two other matters make it tougher to do what he might want to do.

Last week's $1 billion “State of Upstate” speech was a novel approach by the governor to bring attention to the economic plight of the area, outlining some key financial priorities. What is not clear is how he will be able to pay for it, with the state facing, a conservative shortfall of $4.4 billion. While the governor may want to spend more money on upstate, the state senate would like to do something else - reduce the burden of property taxes on local taxpayers. While both of these ideas have great merit, it is tough to do either when you are faced with a monumental budget shortfall, which looks to only get worse. While the nation may not be in a recession, the downturn in the economy is and will continue to impact state revenues negatively.

Add to all this that we are in an election year - a year where the state senate is up for grabs, where a switch of two seats would allow the Democrats to control all three top budgeting positions: assembly speaker, governor and senate majority leader for the first time in decades. Election years are tough budgeting years; they are even tougher when political control is at stake.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com