Gotta love it.

NO DOUBT, when Eliot Spitzer was attorney general - or, as he was more fondly called, the Sheriff of Wall Street - you know he expected his high-profile cases to be turned into thinly disguised episodes of “Law & Order.”

Tomorrow night, he gets his wish - in spades. Too bad it’s not the scenario as it played out in real life.

For sure, back in the glory days, Eliot-the-Idiot was thinking it would be about his fight against Dick Grasso, king of the New York Stock Exchange. He wasn’t dreaming that “his” “Law & Order” ripped-from-the-headlines episode would be the one about a New York governor and a hooker.

As amusing as this is, I still won’t end up watching it. The real story was pathetic enough.

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Gov. Paterson in Hospital With Migraine

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Plea Expected in Prostitution Ring Used by Spitzer

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…but don’t get your hopes up, the Assembly and Governor Paterson aren’t to thrilled with idea of tax relief.

The Republican-sponsored bill would eliminate the gas tax between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day.

The proposal comes as the federal government and presidential candidates debate a federal “holiday” from gas taxes.

Senate Republicans claim the bill would save New Yorkers about 32 cents per gallon in state petroleum business, sales and motor fuel excise taxes. The measure passed the Senate 46-15.

“Look at New Jersey, where you’ll find a lower tax for gasoline, and you know what you’ll find? A lower price for gasoline,” said Sen. Andrew Lanza of Staten Island. “Gas costs more here, because we impose a higher tax here. If we impose a lower tax here gas will cost less here. What is so hard about that to understand?”

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Paterson revealed affairs fearing cops’ probe

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Paterson says projected budget gaps have grown

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The Buffalo Bean fully endorses this bill:

The latest series of toll hikes approved by the Thruway Authority is the last straw for State Assemblyman Mark Schroeder. The South Buffalo democrat has introduced a bill to abolish the Thruway Authority.

Schroeder tells WNED News the toll issue has been a never-ending story.

“This fight has gone on for half-a-century. Let’s begin all over again and let’s really begin to look at how to work government properly,” Schroeder said.

Schroeder points to the findings of state audits that concluded the latest toll hikes are not necessary.

“They’ve ignored it and they’ve decided to do whatever they want to do,”

Noting the sky high gas prices and the nation’s economic woes, Schroeder says the timing of the toll increases couldn’t be worse.

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Governor Paterson Reacts to Toll Hike

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Thruway Takes Another Toll on Drivers

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You know the governor must be doing something right when the unions aren’t happy.

Gov. David Paterson, warning of deteriorating state tax revenues, ordered a “soft freeze” on hiring yesterday and directed state commissioners to come up with “serious, achievable and recurring” budget savings by May 16.

Paterson issued the order just hours after he declared that he’s likely to run for a full term as governor in 2010.

“Only job openings absolutely essential to your agency’s operations and protecting the health and safety of New Yorkers are to be filled,” Paterson told the heads of all state agencies.

Paterson warned of a “hard hiring freeze” - blocking all new hires - if commissioners fail to cut spending.

The limited hiring freeze will likely affect only a few hundred jobs, officials said.

Paterson required a detailed savings plan from each agency by May 16.

Paterson’s call shocked the state’s largest public employees union, which had planned on increases in hiring as part of the state budget approved earlier this month.

“We did not have any forewarning of this,” said Civil Service Employees Association union spokesman Stephen Madarasz. “We’re extremely disappointed there was no discussion of this direction.”

He warned that Paterson’s plan could be counterproductive, saying that adding enforcement jobs could bring in more revenue from fines than the cost of the positions.

So, this so-called “hiring freeze” would only halt the hiring of non-essential positions… considering the fact that our taxes are paying the salaries of these hires, I would hope that all the positions that are filled all the time are essential, and not redundant.

Madarasz can’t claim that this was totally unexpected either.. Talk of a hiring freeze of state workers has been discussed for quite some time. Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, proposed a hiring freeze last month. Paterson may not have been on board at the time, but that doesn’t mean the idea wasn’t on the table.

Madarasz has to stop thinking about the best interests of the unions and think about the best interests of the taxpayers. If we’re paying the salaries of these new hires they damn well better be essential.

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Budget built on borrowing, fees

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Spending up 4.9% as new state budget hits $121.7 billion

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The latest chapter in troopergate scandal has the investigators being investigated.

A little-known but powerful state agency with broad powers to ferret out wrongdoing in government said today it has begun an investigation into how at least three different state and local agencies handled their probes of the Spitzer administration’s attempt to smear a political rival with the help of the State Police.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares, for instance, cleared Eliot Spitzer of wrongdoing in his original probe of Troopergate last year, but in a new report last week concluded that Spitzer was heavily involved in the effort against Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

In addition, various questions have been raised about the closeness of the two state agencies — Public Integrity and the Inspector General — because Spitzer appointees control those agencies, neither of which has interviewed Spitzer about his role.

The state Commission of Investigation, created by Gov. Thomas Dewey in 1951 to look into political corruption cases, can use its subpoena powers to look into the how effectively the state ethics agency, the state inspector general and the Albany County district attorney handled the scandal known in Albany.

“Let me be clear. The commission is not investigating the events concerning troopergate; more than enough investigations of the issues surrounding those events have taken or are taking place,” SIC Chairman Alfred D. Lerner said in a written statement this morning.

“Rather, the commission is investigating the investigations. We are seeking to determine the efficacy of the various investigatory efforts, including those of the Albany County district attorney, the state inspector general and the state Commission on Public Integrity,” he said.

It will be interesting to see how this investigation pans out. Soares has already been accused of sitting on information that Spitzer had lied about his role in the Troopergate scandal… something tells me Soares is in real trouble.

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New York begins new fiscal year without a budget

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Giuliani Weighing ‘Special’ Run For Gov

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First Governor Paterson said he wanted to avoid raising taxes as he tried to balance the state budget.

Well apparently the legislature isn’t so interested in avoiding tax hikes — they’re already looking at raising the cigarette tax…

Legislative leaders were talking about doubling the cigarette tax to $3 per pack to help the state make ends meet, but hadn’t finalized the amount by Monday afternoon.

A per-pack increase of $1.25 or $1.50 would push the average price of cigarettes over $7 in New York.

Listening to the radio, the most popular defense of raising the cigarette taxes is the resulting deterrent on smoking. But let’s face it, the goal of the tax increase isn’t to discourage smoking as much as it is to help legislators make ends meet in the state budget. But why are smokers expected to bare the brunt of the state’s budget crisis when just over a month ago the legislature was looking into increasing their own pay?

According to the New York Times article the average pay for a state legislator is just over $90,000, which is a huge salary when you consider the fact the legislature is only in regular session 63 days a year. The average salary in New York State is $47,330… Perhaps legislators should take a pay cut by making a typical salary before they start raising the taxes on people who can’t vote to increase their own pay.

UPDATE: At least Republicans legislators opposed the pay raise…

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