Statement of PEF President Kenneth Brynien on Gov. Cuomo's State of the State Message

ALBANY, NY (01/04/2012)(readMedia)-- We agree with many items in the governor's State of the State speech, but there are other points with which we do not agree.

We take exception to the governor targeting public-sector pensions and his proposal for a new retirement tier. The ability to attract good workers will be important if the governor seeks to pursue his ambitious agenda. The governor's proposal for a new pension tier is like eating your seed corn. It may help you get by now, but you will starve later.

The governor stated that now is not the time to be squandering resources, we couldn't agree more. The best ways to achieve efficiencies would be to reduce the number of unaccountable public authorities by merging them into state agencies. In addition, we need to eliminate the multiple layers of political patronage appointments that currently exist in virtually all state agencies and authorities. Finally, we need to reduce the use of high cost consultants and contractors that do work public employees can do better and for less.

If this is what the governor means by reimagining state government, this is a framework we can work within.

PEF is the state's second largest state-employee union, representing 55,000 professional, scientific and technical employees of the state of New York and other public and private employers.