I respect the state workers and I respect their unions, but we simply can’t afford to pay benefits and pensions that are out of line with economic reality.
Lesson from Pataki’s success is: Use the political moment.
New York State is upside down and backwards; high taxes and low performance.
Showed good business judgment, knowing that these continued lawsuits would be the untimely death of the gun industry.
I don’t think bonuses are always bad.
I’ve been not only articulating the dissatisfaction with Albany, I’ve been acting on it. I’ve been very aggressive in bringing public integrity cases and public corruption cases and bringing cases against sitting legislators.
I’m in politics. I’m in government, so nothing surprises me.
There is energy and power in a crisis.
There’s no such thing as a 100-year flood.
If there’s a silver bullet in the battle to recapture Albany, it is the re-engagement of our citizens. This capital has become a physical metaphor for the isolation and alienation of our people.
Ninety percent of the students take the ‘preferred lender.’ Why? Because that’s the nature of the relationship. You trust the school. The school is in a position of authority.
Once you start saying, ‘Let’s talk political, my own politics, my own aspirations,’ it can become not just distracting in that it takes time, but it can become confusing and frustrating, and is this now a political agenda or a governmental agenda.
There are 10,000 local governments in the state of New York. Ten thousand! Town, village, lighting district, water district, sewer district, a special district to count the other districts in case you missed a district.
There is also something called the Legislature. There is something called the press. There is something called people. These are all different players on the stage.
There is no dispute that Albany needs to be changed. There is no dispute that the current situation in Albany is untenable. Nobody knows that better than I do.
There’s a rhythm to the legislative session and there are rhythms to legislative sessions. So I think that’s very important to take into consideration when you are deciding what to do when.
There was never a war on poverty. Maybe there was a skirmish on poverty.
I did experiment with marijuana when I was a youth.
If I’m breathing in 2016, I’ll be happy.
I know how bad Albany is. I know it better than most. I understand why people are angry. I’m angry. The question is going to be, how do you change Albany, what is the plan for change, and then how do you actually get it done?
Politicians are good listeners. Because if they’re not, they aren’t politicians for very long.