I applaud the Governor’s decision to use his executive powers to call the State Legislature back into session. Quite frankly, I do not know why he ever let the Legislature leave Albany to begin with. This past session was marked with scandal after scandal at the executive level, which brought legislative and budgetary negotiations to a stalemate. And sadly, during the remainder of the Legislative Session, instead of heeding my calls and getting back to work, Legislators let the waning days of session go by without addressing the cost of home heating fuel, tackling our skyrocketing state debt, or even talking about property tax relief.

Throughout my first term, I have stood up time and time again calling on the State Legislature to address these urgent problems. However, it is an outrage that the concerns of the people and of the state have been ignored repeatedly. All New York State residents should be disgusted that Albany’s three men in a room would dare leave Albany without addressing these vital issues. While we can applaud the Governor for finally using his influence, tonight he sounded more like a Monday morning quarterback. We, the people of New York State, already know what the problems of this state are. We have studied the problems, presented our findings to the public and developed comprehensive solutions. Hopefully, now that the Governor appears to be on board, our solutions will be considered when we return to Albany on August 19. In fact, we should be returning to Albany right now – not in three weeks. As I have been since session ended, I am ready and willing to get back to work to solve these problems once and for all.