Off Main Street

Today's edition is a doozy. First up: Nancy Naples refused to pay a $250 bill to Casa-di-Pizza. The food was ordered by Giambra's office for a luncheon celebrating Bruce Fisher's promotion to sole-deputy-CE. Naples said: "this is an unacceptable expenditure of taxpayer dollars...to be quite frank, processing of this request by your office is quite offensive to the clerical staff reviewing this that [sic] are losing their jobs." Next up: Because Joel Giambra has no class, and less tact, he's persona non grata up in Albany. Lobbying does not equal pissing people off, Joel. But apparently, that's all he can do. His pleas will fall on deaf ears. Finally, former Milwaukee mayor John Nordquist was in town a few weeks ago, and this exchange occurred:

Asked how Milwaukee avoided the sort of budget crisis that's crushing the county, Nordquist revealed his remedy. "You just steadily cut the budget, a little every year, no matter what," Nordquist said. "That way, you never hit the wall. You stop cutting, you get a crisis."

That sort of thinking is news to the politicians around here, and is a declaration of war to the unions. But it's just the sort of thinking New York needs.