Bruno reserves comment on budget proposals
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- January
- 17
  Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer County, said at an Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce luncheon that 2008 would be a difficult year financially for New York. He said Republicans would consider proposals that Gov. Eliot Spitzer has put forward in advance if his recommended budget next week—such as tapping into the state Lottery to raise money for higher education and investing $1 billion to help spark the upstate economy—but he would not commit to anything. Â
The projected $4.4 billion state deficit looms large over budget negotiations this year, particularly in light of the plan Spitzer unveiled this week to invest $1 billion and help the upstate economy.
 “I want to see what his priorities are, and then we’ll respond. We’ll get it done,” Bruno said. “In order to get a budget done in this state, you have to be willing to negotiate in good faith. You have to be willing to give as well as take. And if the governor’s there, and the (Assembly) speaker’s there, we’ll get it done.”
On the Lottery proposal, Bruno said lawmakers will have to weigh current needs and future needs. A case can be made for the initiative, “but you can’t just mortgage out everything for the next 20 or 30 years to meet today’s needs,” he said.
Bruno said the governor’s recommended investments for upstate are along the same lines as Senate Republicans’ $3.7 billion “Upstate Now” proposal last year. “We’re asking him to step up and make it happen. I need a partner. I need the governor and I need the speaker because we’re there …” he said.
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on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 5:34 pm by Cara Matthews.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
RE: The Spitzer administration is “nervous” about the economic outlook, and pegged the budget deficit at $4.4 billion – up slightly from the former $4.3 billion estimate.
Hay heres and Idea!
Lets go to the game plan of all the New York Albany Bureaucrats …(Those who are requesting more pay for their part time jobs of 3 months a year)
That is…....Raise more taxes, Make more regulations on New York business, Drive another million people from upstate & WNY out of our State, Become More Liberal in our Fiscal & Moral Values and create MORE unfunded mandates on our towns, counties and cities.
Jim Kelly – NY Conservative Campaigns