Grievous Angel alerted all of you to this nonsense yesterday and yes, Round 1 to Spitzer. It got me thinking…

When I last left our County Executive, she was busy pining over the state government and how it was freezing state funds she was planning on spending on RenSquare. The State, of course, actually spent the money on projects NOW instead of waiting for a project that is well past its time.

But this isn’t about RenSquare. Nope, it is about planning on State aid that is not guaranteed. It’s like spending Lotto winnings you don’t have. Let’s be clear, just because I expect or hope for something really, really, really hard, that doesn’t mean it actually will come true.

So Maggie is pissed at Spitzer because - she is expecting some State aid and Spitzer is saying the State can’t afford the aid.

News 10 has the story. So does RNews. This from News 10:

County Executive Maggie Brooks said, “We’re making tough choices at the local level, the Governor is not doing that in Albany.” While Governor Spitzer says, “What we are seeing is county executives not willing to make the tough decisions and I think that is a mistake on her part.”

Today the gloves are off as Governor Eliot Spitzer and Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks go toe-to-toe over his proposed state budget. She says it will raise taxes and he says she’s wrong.

[snip]

However, Spitzer says Monroe County actually comes out ahead of other counties by a net positive of $2-million dollars in 2009 and he blames any shortfalls the county may face on what he calls “poor financial planning.”

“And what the County Executive did was to take money that we had intended to support education and then turning that in to our regular budget, for an election year property tax cut,” says Spitzer.

Um, yep. Can you say unFAIR plan Maggie Brooks? One more thing. I thought the County Budget was solved forever. But check this quote that came in (h/t ombudman) via the comments from Spitzer’s Press Conference in Genesee County. I can’t link to a transcript but have seen pieces of this quote in other stories. (my bold)

Question: Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks is having a press conference at 2 criticizing your budget. The push onto counties or burden onto counties for the juvenile detention centers and social services. Your reaction to that?

Answer: “Let me be very clear. She’s wrong. The problem we have here is County Executives who are spending too much money. And we will disseminate the data that will show that County Executives are trying to take the easy way out by blaming somebody else for their inability to make the tough judgments. And what the County Executive did by taking the money that we had intended to support education and turn that back into a regular budget and using it for an election year, small property tax cut was wrong. I spoke about it then and said it was the wrong thing to do. It is a lack of financial management on her part and I think it is wrong and disingenuous of her to blame the state for some of these steps. We have assumed the Medicaid burden to an enormous extent for the county. We have infused more money into the educational system of Monroe County than in any time in history and that is something I believe in doing, but what we are seeing is County Executives not willing to make the tough decisions and I think that is a mistake on her part. We will get everybody the data that will show that.”

Powerful words from Spitzer and he has data. We at RT have common sense - Brooks? Well, she has Minarik. Looking forward to bringing you Spitzer’s data.

So Maggie, what ‘cha going to do?

There are those one shot wonders? How about renegotiating the $100 million dollar Siemens contract? Might want to plan for what happens if you lose the unFAIR plan lawsuit while you are at it. Anything else?