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Legislature urges Albany to keep development promises

Niagara County lawmakers on Tuesday urged representatives in Albany to remember the economic development promises former Gov. Eliot Spitzer made to upstate communities.

Members of the Legislature unanimously supported a resolution that calls on current Gov. David Paterson to maintain the position of upstate economic development czar, which was championed by Spitzer.

They also agreed to convey their “deep disappointment” to state officials over a plan to divert $20 million, or roughly half of the state’s “Upstate Agricultural Development Fund,” to a food co-op in the Bronx.

“All you hear when you walk out these doors is a loud noise,” said Legislator Clyde Burmaster, R-Ransomville. “The loud noise is the sucking sound coming from New York City.”

Before leaving office, Spitzer promised upstate communities support through a dedicated director of economic development for the area. He also proposed a dedicated $1 billion fund for upstate revitalization.

Albany’s upstate commitment has waned since Spitzer’s exit. State lawmakers set aside $700 million in revitalization funding and Paterson now wants to consolidate economic development offices statewide, which would eliminate the job of current Upstate Chairman Daniel Gundersen.

“We are concerned,” said Majority Leader Richard Updegrove, R-Lockport. “We’re concerned that we may be heading in a different direction.”

In other matters, the Legislature:

• Debated the merits of adding another part-time attorney to the county’s conflict office. Burmaster argued the move would reduce the county’s need to hire private attorneys at $75 an hour to provide counsel to indigent persons in family court cases. He suggested hiring a part-time attorney at $42,000 per year with no benefits would save several thousand dollars in the coming months.

Burmaster’s late resolution never came to a vote because Minority Leader Dennis Virtuoso, D-Niagara Falls, refused to sign off and allow it to come to the floor. Virtuoso said the proper time to add personnel was at budget time.

“It’s political patronage and I’m not going to stand for political patronage in the middle of a budget year,” he said.

Burmaster accused Virtuoso of playing politics with the issue himself and said his stubbornness would cost taxpayers.

“Everyday that this is sitting on a table somewhere is money that is going to be paid by taxpayers in Niagara County,” Burmaster said.

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