Politics as usual

The New York State Senate has an operating budget of $100 MILLION. $100 MILLION.

Cars, staffers with six-figure salaries, a secret TV studio, even a "Brunomobile" -- a specially equipped $50,000 van that was used to shuttle disgraced -- and recently indicted -- former majority leader Joe Bruno around after Eliot Spitzer (himself a gleaming paragon of morality) yanked Bruno's helicopter privileges. The story is mind-boggling.

And that $100 million doesn't include earmarks -- hundreds of millions more in tax dollars doled out by politicians to curry favor with constituents and special interest groups.

Nor does it include the private little slush funds these pols have in campaign accounts that they barely have to tap into for legitimate campaign purposes, because once elected and entrenched, they're basically elected for life.

How can these hypocrites talk about cutting school aid and food stamps, and continue to fund this kind of nonsense with our tax dollars?

Will Senate Democrats be very different now that they're in control? Somehow, I doubt it. I'd love to know what kind of similar exceses have been perpetrated in the other chamber of the NY State Legislature at the hands of the other party. This kind of thing, unfortunately, is not limited to one party.

We need TERM LIMITS and we need them NOW.