Budget deadline today.

Today's the day. Today's the day that the County Leg has to pass an Erie County 2005 Budget. Will they reject Giambra's red/green budget ploy, which was designed to continue his "divide and conquer" ethos? Will Mr. "No Handout/No Bailout" be seen at Chef's today, eating his words? Will the Leg discover that traffic lights have three phases, and pass a yellow budget? Folks, New Yorkers' taxes are 72% higher than the national average. 72%. People wonder why Erie County is hemmorhaging people and why it's hard to attract business? Take a look at that 72%. County government is overweight with patronage hacks and cronies whose jobs are dependent on nepotism, favoritism, etc. There needs to be a black Tuesday today, where all the patronage jobs are abolished. We need a house-cleaning that gets rid of the provisional workers who haven't taken their civil service exams. We need to jettison the dead weight that does duplicative work. How dare County government demand that everyone - rich and poor - dig in for another penny per dollar for every sale made, or service rendered in the county, while the extended Getz family gets to stay out of the dreaded private sector. This morning on WBEN, they interviewed some half-wit who wanted Giambra to get his penny, but didn't want the money shared with the City because they have such bad fiscal problems. What has Joel Giambra done, exactly, in the last year to merit people's confidence in his fiscal competence? Kudos to some people who still have brains:

"But five Republicans are also seen as necessary for a deal. Most observers see neither Legislator Elise M. Cusack of Williamsville nor Legislator Denise E. Marshall of Lancaster, both Republicans, as voting for a tax hike under any circumstances. Instead, both have proposed cutting $108 million (the amount generated by the extra percentage point of sales tax) that includes eliminating county automobiles, consolidating departments and eliminating patronage posts in the legislative and executive branches, as well as all pork barrel spending.

That's the spirit. Fight the power. Fight against the entrenched who think their jobs are an entitlement. CLEAN SWEEP.