Not so clear in the Empire State

Courtesy of Real Clear Politics, John Fund analyzes recent developments in New York state politics, which are seldom real clear. It seems that the Republican-controlled state Senate has sent Republican Governor Pataki a budget that would raise taxes. Pataki, who blows hot and cold on fiscal responsibility, plans to veto the budget but, according to Fund, faces an uphill battle to sustain such a veto. It is New York’s third party, the Conservative Party, that provides the best hope here. That party routinely endorses most Republican members of the state Senate. Fund suggests that if it threatens to withhold that support from members unwilling to sustain Pataki’s veto, the Governor may get his way. But it is not clear to Fund whether the Conservatives will step up to the plate.
Meanwhile, my conservative cousin George, life-long New Yorker and long-time cynic, suggests that Pataki may “parlay his new found belief in fiscal prudence into a position in the Bush Administration or even a spot on the national ticket.”