I Don't Think They Care

The Liberty Coalition keeps bringing up the fact that the "fiscally conservative" Bernardo gang was supposed to be saving the taxpayers money. Instead, Bernardo's tenure as chair is costing the taxpayers close to $100k more than it did in previous year:

The best part is that although various claims have been made by both Bernardo and Chapman about the savings taxpayers received by not paying Chapman benefits (which he, of course, already gets from the taxpayers as a NYS Senate employee!) is that the actual amounts of employee health benefits paid to Legislature employees has increased from 2011 to 2012 by $96,261.60, and that’s with 10 fewer Legislators!

This is a valid point. Elected officials like to posture and style themselves as being one thing or another. Bernardo talks the talk of fiscal conservatism, but when it comes to walking the walk she and her pals are nothing more than money-grubbers hoping to cash-in for as long as possible. Bernardo's pledge to reduce spending is nothing more than hot air designed to hoodwink voters.

So, I applaud the fact that there are sincere conservatives out there, like Robin, who want to genuinely reduce the size of government, even if I happen disagree with this philosophy. The reason I applaud this is that one can usually negotiate and find common ground with sincere people.

The Bernardos, on the other hand, are nothing more than opportunists who will say and do anything to get what they want, as Queen Terry's crony spending spree proves. If she were sincere, this wouldn't even be a question. One of the few areas over which she has almost sole control is the spending within her own office. The fact that we the taxpayers are footing the bill for nearly double what the same services cost under the previous leadership shows that she was never sincere -- which doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

So, we can flog away at Bernardo and her bunch of unqualified hangers-on, but you might as well be screaming at a brick wall. She and her flunkies don't care, and they're laughing all the way to the bank with our money.