Shredded Principles

Corporate America lives by the quarterly report, and reputations have been made and lost by gyrations in the figures, and the legerdemain that goes into their preparation.

In government, there are no rigid time frames for reporting results, whether they are achievements or disappointments. There are timelines, such as the process of the executive submitting a proposed budget and the legislature modifying and then adopting it. This happened in Albany on Friday, March 31. This is the second on-time budget in a row after two decades of missing the April l deadline.

Although All Fools Day is an appropriate date to adopt a budget which is at best an outline of spending and borrowing plans for the year, it is really too early in the session for the full consideration the budget deserves. There is, however, one conclusion that leaps to mind from the document and the commentaries provided by the press, upstate and downstate.

The budget is very high. It is funded by borrowing $11 billion or so. The public debt in New York State is higher than that of any other state but California, where Governor Schwarzenegger recently borrowed $27 billion. The per capita debt of New York State is higher than that of any other state except Alaska, which had reportedly 663,661 people in 2005, about 3.5% of New York's population.

The adopted budget is either $112.4 or $113.25 billion, depending on whether you take the Senate or Assembly figures. The governor said the true cost of the budget is $115.5 billion. His staff should know. Under Rule 30-T: The truth lies somewhere in between.

The budget now goes to the governor to sign or veto. That will be a test of his fiscal responsibility. He may also think about how his decision will play in Iowa in 2008. He will have to consider whether the likelihood of having his veto overridden again is more damaging than his signing off on a bloated budget which he had little influence in shaping.

The greatest hazard in politics today appears to be labeled as a flip-flopper, that is, one who changes his position on any issue. Senator Kerry's problem in this area, amplified by Republican spinmasters, have made a change of heart into a failure of character. Since sometimes people change their minds because of additional evidence or new developments, the label, although widely applied, can be unfair.

It assumes that people change their minds either because they have been bought off by the other side, because they shift with the wind of public opinion, because they really don't know what to believe, or have been brainwashed. The use of that last word ended the 1968 presidential campaign of Michigan's governor, George Romney, father of the Massachusetts governor, Mitt.

Since "flip flopper" is such a dire characterization, it is likely that Governor Pataki will veto the budget, unless he is able to negotiate some reductions with the Senate, in which case he would have a fig leaf for signing it. The next move would be up to Senator Bruno. Unlike the governor, who dreams of the White House, Mr. Bruno, who is 76, wants very much to stay in his current job. His decision on how to deal with the budget will be informed by that desire.

We ask: Is there a shred of principle among these players?

We answer: Yes. Principle, to the extent that can be found in Albany, has been thoroughly shredded. Pragmatism has triumphed, even if the results are impractical and unsustainable over the long term.

We ask: What does the future hold?

We answer: Probably more of the same. Both Mr. Bruno and Sheldon Silver were first elected to the Legislature in 1976, 30 years ago. They are unlikely to learn new tricks or change their spots. With the aid of Ponce de Leon and pliant voters, they could remain in office till the cows come home (if you can manage a third mammalian metaphor).

We ask: Is the situation hopeless?

We answer: No. All we are asking is for the adoption of a budget balanced according to generally accepted accounting principles and an end to the use of off-budget agencies to borrow money for recurring expenditures.

The New York state constitution places limits on state debt and requires public referenda on issuing bonds. These laws have been circumvented by the employment of Enronian entities, off-budget instrumentalities similar to Andrew Fastow's "Chewbacca." These satellite agencies do what their corporate parents are forbidden to do, much as banks in the Cayman Islands may engage in undisclosed transactions prohibited in the United States.

Mr. Stern is a former New York City Parks Commissioner and the founder of New York Civic.