OPINION: Republicans can gain favor again in New York

John Faso was minority leader of the State Assembly and Republican candidate for governor in 2006.

The 2010 elections witnessed a Republican resurgence across America. The GOP reclaimed the U.S. House majority, won six new U.S. Senate seats and elected nine new governors. Nationwide, the GOP also elected almost 700 new state legislators, giving Republicans their highest number since 1928.

But in New York State, the GOP was completely shut out in contests for all statewide offices. The gubernatorial campaign of Carl Paladino failed to take advantage of broad discontent with Albany and suffered numerous self-inflicted wounds.

Election Day was not without GOP bright spots, however. The State Senate will likely return to GOP control once all the votes are counted, and Assembly Republicans gained at least eight seats. Just as significant, it appears that statewide, Republican candidates for the House of Representatives will gain at least six - and perhaps seven - seats.

But there's also no mistaking the profound sense that 2010 represents a significant missed opportunity for Empire State Republicans. If ever there was an opportunity for candidates to take advantage of a generalized disgust about the political and fiscal mess in Albany, this was the year.

We all know the reasons for the decline of New York Republican fortunes: Voter enrollment gives Democrats an almost 2-1 advantage, and demographic changes feature an influx of new immigrants, particularly Hispanics and Asians, who strongly tilt Democratic and have often been ignored by the GOP. Just as important, more than 1 million New Yorkers - many who are GOP adherents - have left the state over the past decade, fleeing high taxes and a hostile business climate.

Democrats may like these trends, but after their recent two-year experiment with one-party rule in Albany, it's clear that a competitive, two-party system is the best way to ensure honest, accountable government.

The job now for the state GOP is to present credible programs to show that it is up to the task of governance. First, the GOP must tackle the terrible job climate and propose plans to encourage private-sector job growth. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation recently released its annual report on the business tax climate in the 50 states: New York ranks dead last.

The state needs to cap property taxes - as Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo has vowed to do - and force local governments and school districts to recognize that having the highest property taxes in America doesn't encourage job growth. We also need to make it easier to do business in the state by removing redundant and expensive rules, which hamper growth.

Let's face it: New York State is a governmental disaster. Our finances are a mess; the state is facing a $9-billion deficit in 2011, and unlike this year, Albany won't be able to paper over the issue with more borrowed money from Washington.

New York needs to cut state and local spending and get more for taxpayer dollars. This spending is largely focused on Medicaid, K-12 education, and public employee salaries and benefits. Actual cuts in state and local spending - and no further tax increases - must be the order of the day.

The Empire Center of the Manhattan Institute has outlined more than $14 billion in spending reforms and cuts in 30 specific areas, many of which should be embraced by Republican lawmakers. The GOP should see the economic crisis as an opportunity to articulate an alternative vision of governance: one that promotes private sector job growth and private investment in the state.

New York already has a political party that promotes higher spending and unaffordable giveaways to special interests. All too often, though, GOP elected officials have been complicit with those Democratic policies, which have been destructive to our state. That approach doesn't work any longer. The path to success for the GOP is to get behind a fiscally responsible, job-building alternative.