Politics on the Hudson

   In a “National Journal” article this week, New York distinguished itself by coming in first place for having the most dysfunctional state government. The dysfunctionality scale measured six contenders leadership problems, criminality, statewide challenges  and media circus.

   Here’s how the scoring went down:

   6—California, 7 out of 10 for total dysfunctionality.

   5—South Carolina, 7 out of 10.

   4—Alaska, 7.25 out of 10.

   3—Illinois, 7.5 out of 10.

   2—Nevada, 7.75 out of 10.

   1—New York, 9.25 out of 10.

   That means New York’s month-long leadership stalemate, financial problems and other issues beat out Alaska, where Sarah Palin resigned as governor amid a growing number of ethics complaints against her; South Carolina, where the governor has admitted visiting a mistress in Argentina; California, with its budget crisis and high unemployment; Illinois, which impeached and removed from office now-former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who faced federal charges he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat President Barack Obama had held to the highest bidder; and Nevada, where a Republican senator recently admitted to having an extramarital affair and one-term Gov. Jim Gibbons was alleged to have touched a woman inappropriately and later got divorced.

   The article says leadership problems have gotten worse for New York, which went through the scandal of now-former Gov. Eliot Spitzer admitting he had ties to a prostitution ring and Paterson was accused of mishandling the selection process in replacing now-former U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The governor’s approval ratings are in the dumps and he is considered a weak leader, plus he faces a continued fiscal crisis in the state.

   Then there was the last month of chaos, which began with Sen. Pedro Espada, D-Bronx, defecting from the Democrats to form an alliance with Republicans, and ended with Espada returning to the Democratic fold. Republicans and Democrats argued over which party rightly controlled the chamber and even held dueling sessions one day and screamed “You’re out of order!” at one another.  

   Several years ago, New York University Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice dubbed state government as being the most dysfunctional in the country, and it later renewed the title.

|  Email This