After years of being in the minority and vowing during their campaigns to change the way things work in Albany, Democratic state senators failed to do the right thing when it came to the disbursement of member items this year.

Of the Senate's $84.7 million to be doled out, members of the Democratic majority are sharing in $76.7 million, leaving the Republicans with only $8 million.

We didn't expect any changes in the Assembly, where Democrats have ruled for so long, but after being promised that things would be different this year, Senate Democrats have failed miserably.

We're certainly disappointed by the amount of money being spent here in the first place, given the real need to cut back on state spending, but a fair allocation of member item funds would at least have shown that Democrats were serious about one thing when they promised us “reform.”

The disparity is ridiculous: an average of $2.4 million for Democratic senators and $277,000 for Republicans.

When given out in $5,000 or $10,000 increments for thousands of projects around the state, the funds will be trumpeted publicly for maximum public-relations payoffs, giving the Democrats an unfair political advantage.

Let's not forget that these are tax dollars we're talking about.

The state needs to implement a mechanism mandating that they be spread around fairly, so that all communities benefit - not just communities that happen to be presently represented by a person of a particular party.

Short of that, the division could simply be made fair by the people with the power to make it happen.

Unfortunately, Senate Democrats this year have shown where their true loyalties lie.

Not with the people they are sworn to serve - but with their newfound power and their visions of re-election.