Senate Democrats' plan to boycott Monday's special session of the Legislature called by Gov. David Paterson. He will still detail out what he sees as the state's fiscal crisis. The following day, all legislators will likely be asked to make a number of hard if not politically impossible choices to address a ballooning gap of over $3 billion for this current budget seven months into the new fiscal year. Their votes may have much more to do with election 2010 than fixing New York's fiscal house - it is also likely that their votes, no matter how well explained, will have a major political downside.

Paterson contends that the current budget gap, that seems to exponentially increase every month, must be addressed, and he is correct, even though his plan for cuts of $5 billion over two years is long past due.

Legislators are faced with a simple question, but complex political dilemma. The simple part is that action is overdue by the Legislature to close the current budget gap. Making matters worse is that this cannot be fixed with higher taxes and fees (something that should not have been done when the current budget was passed) nor creative one time savings and bookkeeping gimmicks, that the Legislature is often charged with. The bottom line is that the only way out of this situation is making cuts.

That leads to the second and more complex part. Where? Paterson has come up with a list of proposals (something that some thought he wouldn't present now, since last year's attempt at making tough choices early in the budget process was a dismal political failure for him) all of which are painful financially and politically damaging to those who vote for them. A case in point is the cuts to school districts, especially mid-year. No legislator is going to want go back home for Veterans Day ceremonies and have voters look at them after reading their morning newspapers to find that their districts have to either make Draconian cuts or look to raise taxes, over the next eight months.

That is just one example. The flip side, especially looking at what happened in the 23rd Congressional District, is that not making tough decisions could likely result in getting a primary challenger or having a more competitive race next November. In essence, it is make cuts and become unpopular or be perceived as someone who failed to do their job and didn't make tough choices and be labeled a “big spender” and you likely get a primary or general election opponent who will take you on.

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