ALBANY, March 6 — On Monday, labor and civic groups, state employees and teachers broadcast a television advertisement attacking Gov. George E. Pataki's proposed budget cuts. Yesterday, health and hospital leaders followed suit, taking to the airwaves with a moody 30-second spot of their own.þþIf this were a western movie, and the Capitol the O.K. Corral, some of those labor and civic leaders might be seen as characters sliding off a split-rail fence, looking for a confrontation with the sheriff and his deputies.þþBut the very people brandishing the advertising weapons are some of the governor's recent allies, including Dennis Rivera and Randi Weingarten, who just months ago abandoned their traditional Democratic roots to help Mr. Pataki campaign as a social liberal and win a third term in November. The stakes for taxpayers are high.þþÿIt is a pretty serious situation,ÿ Jennifer Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the union that Mr. Rivera heads, 1199/S.E.I.U., said of the state's worsening budget plight.þþMembers of the unions and social service providers said the public relations campaign, costing several million dollars, was escalating as concerns grow over the governor's plan for more than $1 billion in Medicaid cuts and a $1.24 billion reduction in state aid to public schools. The cuts have been proposed to help close a combined $11.5 billion shortfall in the state's $90.8 billion budget.þþThe sponsors said the campaign is to raise public awareness and lay groundwork for alternatives. One of the ads, paid for by a coalition known as New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, is calling for changes to corporate tax laws that would close some tax shelters. They also want to increase the tax rate for the state's wealthiest people. Supporters said the measures would raise nearly $5 billion in new revenues.þþIn addition, there have been mass mailings, lobbying of lawmakers and a canvassing of residents throughout New York, union officials said. Hundreds of teachers are set to rally here Tuesday, and a protest by health care workers is planned for April 1, the budget deadline. More ads might follow, on television and radio.þþMr. Pataki has encouraged brisk debate over the spending plan he presented on Jan. 29, said Lisa Dewald Stoll, his chief spokeswoman.þþÿBut he is determined to lead New York out of this fiscal crisis,ÿ Ms. Stoll said. ÿThe governor has made tough choices to ensure job growth and a strong economy so that New York can continue to build on his record investments in education, health care and the environment and the future.ÿþþAs for the revenue-raising proposals being pushed by some labor leaders, Ms. Stoll said that no one should underestimate the governor's resistance to tax increases.þþÿWe know that there will always be some who advocate for massive job-killing taxes to address the fiscal challenges,ÿ she said. ÿBut as history has made clear, that would damage our economy, cost us thousands of jobs and hurt hard-working families across the state.ÿþþUnion leaders said the ads were not directed at the governor, but at all lawmakers. The ad by the Fiscal Fairness group — a coalition including the New York State A.F.L.-C.I.O., the Communications Workers of America, the Civil Service Employees Union, the Public Employees Federation and the New York State United Teachers — does not invoke Mr. Pataki's name, but asks viewers to ÿcall Albany.ÿþþÿThere is a day-to-day relationship with the governor we maintain,ÿ said Denis M. Hughes, the president of the state A.F.L.-C.I.O. ÿAnd we still have the same level of respect, only with a difference of opinion on these issues.ÿþþMany lawmakers said it was too soon to gauge whether the ads represented a redrawing of old alliances, with Mr. Pataki, big business and fiscal conservatives on one side and Democrats and labor forces on the other. However, the language of the ads is similar to what Sheldon Silver, the Democratic speaker of the State Assembly, has used to attack Mr. Pataki's budget.þþÿI think these people have learned a hard lesson,ÿ Mr. Silver said. ÿThey were used. And they are smarting and they are embarrassed in their membership.ÿþþAmong those most vociferously fighting Mr. Pataki's cuts to Medicaid is Kenneth E. Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, who is behind the ad that features slow-motion film of a mother racing to an emergency room with her child in her arms, only to find it closed. Hospitals are already facing closure, and Mr. Raske said the proposed cuts would endanger more of them at a time when they need $1.2 billion in the next two years to sufficiently prepare for possible terrorist attacks.þþIf the cuts stand, many said, it could signal a seismic shift in the relations between labor and the governor.þþÿThe relationships have not broken,ÿ said Alan B. Lubin, the executive vice president of New York State United Teachers. ÿIf this budget were to become a reality, they certainly could break because we think the governor has made the wrong choices.ÿþþþ
Source: NY Times
