“Government will learn to do more with less.”

- New York Gov. David Paterson, July 29, 2008

While this column last week praised Governor Paterson's address about clearly laying out the dire fiscal state of New York, there is one comment that exception should be taken with - the one above. From a number of perspectives, from it not being true to creating false expectations and also being derogatory to the public workforce - this often cited, crisis oriented, comment, even at the local level, should be stricken from the public official lexicon.

First and foremost, if government, at any level, is going to “do more with less,” then taxpayers should be asking: why aren't they currently? This one statement begs the questions about the efficiency of the governments making the claim. If government could do more with less, why hasn't it been doing more with what it has? The reason is simple - resources are finite and the services provided have a cost, whether the public and its leaders want to admit it.

Another reason that this statement hurts the credibility of those making it, is that it sets false expectations about the services currently received and their realistic cost. By telling voters this, those who receive the services in question may feel that it will be business as usual - that they will not feel any pain when there is a fiscal crisis. The bottom line, in this case, is that it is disingenuous to make it seem that when tough choices need to be made, that there aren't consequences for service providers and recipients.

Leaders would be better off saying that because there is a fiscal crisis the pain will be felt by all - those who have their services cut - because that is what is really going to happen and those who may lose their jobs when it comes to cutting programs.

Finally, such statements are unfair to government workers (go ahead and make your jokes#) but the vast majority do the work we expect and need, even though it may not get done as efficiently as we would like - who, if you think about this statement, have their productivity undervalued. That is according to a conversation with one state middle manager who listened intently to Paterson's recent words - not sure if he will have a job when and if the state makes some hard choices when the Legislature goes into a special session Aug. 19.

It is time to drop the phrase.

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