A colossal failure to lead

If you want to see a classic example of the futility of New York state government, take a look at the colossal failure to lead that is the lapse in the Power for Jobs program.

This program, whose main goal is to provide low-cost power to commercial rate payers who create or retain jobs in the state, has been renewed annually for several years. It has been to the brink nearly every year, but somehow managed to be rescued at the last minute. Not this time, though.

The program expired Saturday when three dueling versions of the bill — one each from the Senate, Assembly and governor — failed to gain either acceptance or compromise. The sticking point appears to be the component of the old bill that provides minuscule relief for residential customers. The Associated Press reported last week that the average residential bill saved $2. While all three versions of the bill that would make the program permanent eliminates the token residential savings, two of them try to make up for that paltry benefit, each in a different way.

It’s clear that two of the three bills are reaching out to voters by trying to eliminate, but not really eliminate, the residential lagniappe. Only the governor’s proposal funnels that residential benefit into commercial accounts, in an effort to further encourage job growth. The Assembly wants to turn the residential benefit into an energy-efficiency payment that would help lower residential bills. The Senate would direct it to low-income users, according to the AP.

But this program is called Power for Jobs — not power for votes. If the Senate and Assembly both rallied around the governor’s bill, the program could continue and the jobs it has helped create and retain will remain, if not safe, at least considerably safer. It has been reported that this could cost large commercial customers $10,000 a month — a number that translates into real jobs. It doesn’t take a Mensa member to figure out that abruptly dropping this program is going to result in pain for the state’s working men and women. All because two Democratically controlled houses of the Legislature can’t meet somewhere in the middle.

This is why state government has come to be either despised or ridiculed by many, many residents of New York. This is why the state is broken. And this is why it needs to be fixed.