Russell, at forum, attacks Paterson, agencies

MASSENA — Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, D-Theresa, took aim at Gov. David A. Paterson and "out of control" Albany bureaucracies, including the departments of Education and Corrections, during a community forum Saturday at Town Hall.

She warned a crowd of nearly 100 St. Lawrence and Franklin county residents the state's fiscal crisis would mean tough cuts, lost jobs and less aid for school districts and municipalities. Said she was working hard to ensure those cuts were made in the right places for the right reasons.

Ms. Russell also railed against Mr. Paterson's proposals to close the Ogdensburg Correctional Facility, cut funding to state parks and make up revenues by introducing a "sugar tax" on non-diet soft drinks and new taxes on cigarettes.

"State parks are revenue-generators," she said. "It does not make sense to cut them and hamper their ability to generate money for the state, especially now when the demand for those parks is on the rise because of the economy."

Ogdensburg Correctional Facility employee and Massena resident Doug Dilcox raised concerns about declining inmate counts at state prisons across the upstate region. He said OCF has been down by about 50 inmates and questioned whether the governor might be attempting to play a "carnival shell game" by leaving state-ready inmates in county jails to deliberately suppress inmate counts at state facilities, helping to bolster the argument that the prisons slated for closure were not needed.

Ms. Russell said she shared the same concerns, not only because the lower numbers might be used to close prisons but also because counties would be absorbing the cost of continuing to house state-ready inmates in their facilities. She said the state no longer has to reimburse counties for the time they house inmates bound for prison before they are relocated to a state facility.

"I am surveying the local county sheriffs to see how many inmates they have sitting that are state-ready that the county is not getting reimbursed for housing, or for housing out, in the case of Jefferson County," she said.

Rather than closing the Ogdensburg facility, Ms. Russell said she wanted the Department of Corrections to look at cutting costs by eliminating administrative jobs in Albany, a move she has said would save $15 million.

Ms. Russell is calling on the Department of Education to cut back their overhead at the top as well, reining in state-level administrative costs instead of slashing aid to districts, which she said only passes the burden on to local taxpayers. She also criticized agencies for taking an end run around the state hiring freeze by bringing in costly private contractors and consultants, a practice she believes should be stopped.

When Massena resident Colin J. Lucid asked if Mr. Paterson really cared about the needs of the north country, Ms. Russell pointed to the way the governor has handled a request she made last week to meet with him to discuss the proposed closure of the Ogdensburg prison.

"He doesn't have the courtesy to call me back and then he has his spokesperson from the Department of Corrections attack me," she said. "I don't know. I think you can draw your own conclusions about how he feels and how he operates."