Poll: Many voters give Paterson passing grade on budget

ALBANY - In the state budget standoff, voters appear to be siding with Gov. David A. Paterson over the legislature, though they wish he had not vetoed extra school aid.

A poll released Thursday by the Siena Research Institute found 71 percent of voters gave Paterson passing grades of A, B, C or D for attempting to force lawmakers to complete the $134.4-billion budget and then striking out the spending added by them. Twenty-seven percent said he failed.

The legislature fared worse, with voters evenly divided between failure, 47 percent, and passing grades, 50 percent. In terms of A grades, lawmakers received less than 1 percent to Paterson's 4 percent.

The budget, which was due April 1, hasn't been finished because the State Senate's Democratic majority adjourned July 1 without passing a revenue bill.

"If your children came home from college with a grade-point average of less than 1.0, you might think about not paying for them to go back to school," said pollster Steven Greenberg, referring to the legislature. "Will voters return legislators to Albany this November after flunking them?"

Still, voters by a 58-38 margin opposed Paterson's veto of $419 million in restorations ($600 million for the school year) by lawmakers of his more than $1 billion in school aid cuts. Striking out between $180 million and $190 million in legislative member items, or pork-barrel grants to nonprofits, was backed, 49-37.

Paterson's 6,681 vetoes, a record for modern New York governors, likely won't be overridden because the closely divided Senate cannot muster the required two-thirds vote.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli criticized everyone Thursday, warning a $4.8-billion deficit could occur if revenue doesn't materialize. He noted Paterson and lawmakers have failed to address the likelihood New York won't receive $1 billion in promised Medicaid funds from Washington.

DiNapoli also doubted $150 million in taxes would be collected on cigarette sales by American Indians to non-Indians.

He said budget makers resorted to gimmicks and one-time revenue, instead of "fully addressing the state's chronic structural deficit."

But Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook shot back, "The comptroller's assessment grossly overstates potential problems in this budget, and he once again fails to provide any direct guidance as to what he would do to close the state's budget deficit."