Cuomo's economic development funding knocked

ALBANY - If Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has his way, the 2011-12 budget will give lawmakers nothing in so-called pork-barrel spending, the "member-item" grants for youth baseball, fire departments and other community groups.

But some lawmakers and government watchdogs say Cuomo's budget maintains a different form of pork, borrowing or redirecting up to $340 million for economic development projects throughout the state in a process that would exclude legislative leaders.

So far lawmakers have not complained loudly about the governor's plan to cut member items during a fiscal crisis, even though they say they fund needed services.

Cuomo aides said the governor believes the state cannot afford member items this year and wants to get rid of them for good. They totaled $180 million last year, when Gov. David A. Paterson vetoed them all, and $170 million in 2009.

But some lawmakers said there will be a fight if both member items and their role in borrowing for projects is eliminated.

"The legislature is not going to sit by and say we can't have member items but the governor can," said Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), who called the grants "critically important."

Another way to fund pet projects is borrowing. The money is pulled from existing capital programs that have not borrowed the full amount authorized by law, officials said. The state can borrow the difference and use it for infrastructure, research and job creation.

Since 1997, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and various governors and Senate majority leaders have divided billions in such funds at their own discretion, a practice derided as "capital pork" by critics.

From 1997 to 2005, about $229 million in such funds went to projects on Long Island, including an $88-million wireless technology center at Stony Brook University, according to the Center for Government Research.

Cuomo aides said Cuomo was making the process more open and putting the money toward crucial economic development projects. About $130 million would launch 10 regional councils, which report to Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, to make grants to "competitively determined" economic development projects, the budget proposal says. Another $100 million would be set aside for upstate areas where Cuomo plans to close prisons.

"Governor Cuomo wants to invest in New York to create good-paying, sustainable jobs. New Yorkers prefer that their state government prioritize funding the best projects that create the most jobs," said Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto in a statement.

E.J. McMahon, executive director of the conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy, said Cuomo was unnecessarily borrowing money. "It's an abuse," McMahon said. "He should just eliminate it, not reprogram the money into something new."

Aides to Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said they were reviewing the proposal.