The example of New York City

Over the weekend Rocket Man posted several items about Minnesota’s current budget battles and provided his own informative take on the situation. One of our favorite readers has reminded us that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg seems singlehandedly to be pushing New York City to the brink of fiscal catastrophe. The reader points out to us the negative example Mayor Bloomberg and New York City are setting for Governor Pawlenty and Minnesota as the latter wrestle with the state’s enormous budgetary problems.
One difference between New York and Minnesota is the existence of significant conservative media voices in New York City. In New York, both the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal are voices of fiscal sanity. In Minnesota, that niche is occupied exclusively by one or two radio talk show hosts. In this context our reader referred us to the Wall Street Journal’s excellent editorial of last Friday on New York’s situation: “Mayor John V. Bloomberg.”