The tough choice are being made, the budget has been cut as promised, and now the final decision on the prisons should be out soon. Prison closures, and the loss of jobs in St. Lawrence and Jefferson could have a major economic impact on the area. Time will tell if Senator Ritchie has the clout to keep OCF and WCF open or at least one of the two targeted prisons.
These are times of high taxes, school teachers still getting raises as their fellow teachers get laid off, and prisons on the cusp of closure. Senator Ritchie has cut the budgets let the chips fall where they may. After all it is what the voters wanted!
News 7 Article
10 comments:
Your story is a joke. Senator Ritchie praises the budget.. Its a known fact this budget was voted on and approved by Skelos and Silver and the Governor.. The three men in a room decided as usual.. Sure there are cuts. On the backs of our kidd and teachers not the top administrators. Sure there is cuts, on the backs of the poor and needy by cutting medicare spending it will deny needy the help they need. Sure there is no tax increases at the state level but wait and see what happens on the local levels.. Taxes on clothing has been releaved somewhat but now with gas so high the state will ream in the money and spend it as usuall on their pet projects. The republican controlled Tug Hill commission was saved in exchange for a prison probably Watertown.. She Ritchie did not lift a finger for the prisons up here instead she went along with the status quo... We will lose at least one DRy Hill and possibly OCf..
She promised change but nothings changed. She promised to help us but no help is in sight. We may get our STAR rebate back yet but whats the expense we paid. What happened to getting rid of the authorties as promised. Was there any tax cuts for anyone but the millionaires.. Yes Ritchie wanted to let the millionaires off the hook so she voted for it.
She is one very nice person but her lack of any understanding of government and politics has made her a naive slave to the Republican heads in Albany. She has forgotten her roots in the North Country... Yes she will lobby for keeping the prisons up here open and take the credit if they do stay open. If they close it will be the Democrats fault..Patty, sorry but nothings changed. You have become a true politican....PS..The closures are already decided no matter who lobbys.. Let the chips fall where they will...
Seriously : Did you REALLY believe that ANY politician is going to CHANGE anything . They are ALL owned by special interests . There ARE NO LONGER 3 GUYS IN THE ROOM - ONLY TWO WHO NOW PUSHED THE THIRD ONE INTO A CORNER .
This whole Albany thing is theatre of the absurd. You are delusional if you think that they give a rats rear end about joe and jane sixpack.
you'll get nothing but crumbs , in the mean time the gas tax coffers are rising , wall st is HAPPY , the bankers are grinning and YOU are paying for it all.
Have a nice day
Speaking of Wall St. I heard that Ms Ritchie accepted contributions heavily from Wall ST Interests. I only know of recieving BIG contributions towards her election from Matt Doheny the Millionaire canidate from ABay that has Wall St interests at heart and the other one was from Dean Skelos who may have taken money from Wall St and donated it under his name..
Yes1147 you are correct. She nor any of them have our interests at heart. If you have a problem with something Senator Ritchie will help you that I have no doubt. She is a wonderful peerson but a very poor politican.
She has no clout. If the prisons even one of them in her district has been saved it was ordered by Skelos.. I also feel that she showed her party ties in not voting for the Millionaires tax.. Shes supposed to be one of us..
The ALbany side show goes around
By the way off this subject it was refreshing to read an objective veiw of the County Clerks position today in the journal from that offices employees... Looks like Rupp really screwed up by giving a leave of absence when they in fact needed the position filled right away. She screwed up and tried to make it look like the legislators.. ALso refreshing to see the truth about her time there. No wonder he fired her and kept Ms Steeter and her experience. Ritchie is the one that screwed up there pikcing a two year employee over a 20 year employee for Deputy... Truth comes out in the end....
Shes no different than Aubertine or his predacessor. Likes her picture taken and makes claim to any good thing that happens. Blames the other party for any bad things.. And it dosnt change.. You know the thing she promised..
I question her staff however.. Her staff is made up of Jims Wrights old staff plus Renzis wife. Her choice of Regan has reaised questions of his prior ethics and tangles with the law. A senator who hires with no regards to past criminal actions isnt much of a leader.
I voted for her but my vote will not be cast for her the next election.
She has failed miserably up to now.
Clout for prisons... What a joke.. Its been decided without her.
I,ve been following your blog.. Interesting.. When you get a cut do you bleed or does Republican pour out..
I guess everyone cries for cut and when they happen, it was the wrong cuts. The above bloggers write like they understand the process but it all about give and take.
Maybe we should of left education alone and the teachers and administration could get a 5 or 6% raise instead of the almost 3% raise they are getting the next 3 years.
You complain about Skelos, what was Sampson like when he was the leader. Same old BS except he and a bunch of other democrats were under criminal investigation. Pluse they raised the budget 10 billion and raised every fee and fine they could.
Medicaid cuts why, it is better than Obama care. Best health care system in the country or at least most expensive.
As for prison closures, they are closing 3700 beds hopefully not our prisons. Many think it should be our prisons, why? The savings are there but were not losing the jobs.
DA was an albany insider and voted with his party 99% of the time. Except his voted supported the NYC agenda.
These cuts must be hurting some of the above the bloggers.
Some ppl are never happy, they wanted cuts, be careful what you ask for you might get it. Hope the prisons stay open. That will be the fight for Senator Ritchie. OCF is on the top of the list and the Fisher wants it. This will require playing ball and you get what is good for your district.
If she does that in the light of 3700 beds that will be a job well done and save many families from being displaced.
Close OCF , Close the SVP resort and cut taxes with the savings to the taxpaying public .
There is still so much fat in this budget it is assinine to say that real financial reality has been achieved so far.
Un-needed authorities , TOO many small school district fiefdoms , too many levels of government city , town , county. All with bureaucracies that seem to failto improve the quality of life for citizens . Ogdensburg is a prime example of this last statement, the crow about tax rate BUT have INCREASED fees to offset tax rate gaming . Smoke n' Mirrors technique is an old political shell game
Pet projects still go forward , the school district is a prime example of excess.
In the meantime politicians CROW about cutting TWO PERCENT -- get real 2 percent is a pittance .
Get with the reality that faces most in the real world where 1 in ten is unemployed , MOST have seen REAL not imaged cuts in pay or return on personal investments.
Moreover,ALL social security recipients have NOT had a raise in almost THREE yrs --if 2012 is predicted to be FLAT by the feds.
I'm tired of all this whining nonsense - Cut the state budget another 15 % and get the financing of government on SOLID ZERO BASED budgeting based on OUTCOMES that can be measured against benchmarks .
Till i see this kind of serious reform the rest i read putout by the politicians AT OUR EXPENSE BTW is just NOISE.
Wake up voters !!
DA voted with his party 99percent of the time heh.. Look your fact up. He voted with the GOP over two thirds of the time....
Ritchie has voted Skelos 100 percebt. Thats ok if she moving to NYC long Island area..
The blogger who believes OCF is on top of the list is wrong.. You forgot Aubertine and Russell stopped the closure last year. It was done in a way that will spare it this year.. Watertown will close .. Possibly after Ritchie reelection on 2012 OCF will close but not now...
I just got so excited. I read an EMail from the Senators office... Shes pleased to announce we wont be paying taxes on the first fifty six dollars of clothing costs. My math tells me we might save @1.78.. Thats nice isnt it... My question is why dont they drop the gasoline tax its much more important to us..
The ladies priorities are confused.
The tax levy in Ogd school district may go up three percent. Ritchie promised no new taxes but the locals didnt hear her I guess. She fights for the wrong things and has no priorities for the North Country. To people like Poly Info she does no wrong. To most people so far she is a failure.
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