OurView : Gov. Spitzer: So far, so good

Twelve weeks isn’t too much time to draw definitive conclusions about anyone in a new job, especially if that job is designed to last four years; maybe longer if voters agree in 2010.

But 12 weeks does give enough time to get a snapshot of the man who holds the state’s highest job. And what we’ve seen so far of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, so far, has been welcome: a take-charge, progressive governor passionate about tackling the state’s thorniest issues, even to the point of stepping on a few toes.

Spitzer was only half-kidding back in January when he called himself a (bleep)ing steamroller. Then again if ever a place needed steamrolling it’s Albany, where lawmakers can say with a straight face, no less that they are champions of government reform simply because they have switched to casting their votes in person.

In that kind of environment Spitzer cannot be faulted for pressing the bureaucracy, legislators, interest groups and others aggressively for change. And he already has plenty to show for his effort.

Spitzer’s biggest accomplishment to date is his leadership in reforming the state’s cumbersome workers’ compensation system.

Soon after he swept into office last November with 70 percent of the vote, Spitzer brought together the state’s top business and labor advocates Business Council of New York State Inc. President and CEO Kenneth Adams, and New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes. The two kicked off weeks of closed-door talks that culminated in the system reforms announced Feb. 27 anchored by the four- to 10-year limit on permanent-partial disability payments, depending on the injury.

Spitzer also brought together Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, and state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, to craft a civil confinement law for sex offenders who complete their prison terms. That’s more than what Spitzer’s predecessor, George E. Pataki, was able to accomplish in 12 years as governor, thanks to some give by Spitzer such as the promise of due process in deciding which offenders remain a public risk. Predictably, the measure has come under fire from the New York Civil Liberties Union, which contends it violates the rights of cons. When it comes to public safety we’ll side with law-abiding citizens over convicted sex fiends any day. Thankfully in this case so did Spitzer, Silver and Bruno.

Even more thankfully, Spitzer isn’t so blinded by the desire to relationship-build with Silver and Bruno that he won’t challenge them on issues where the legislative leaders need to be challenged.

Health-care reform is one such issue. Spitzer is right to try slowing down the snowball that is the state’s health-care costs. Why should New York spend as much for health care as California and Texas combined? Why, given that the Empire State has only one-third the population as the Golden State and the Lone Star State?

Striving to slow down health-care costs, inevitably, will mean confronting the interests most responsible for the runaway spending train including organized labor and hospitals. Both have squealed like stuck pigs as the governor has pressed to cut a mere 1 percent of Albany’s health expenditures by ending practices like reimbursing hospitals for phantom medical students.

While he’s at it, Spitzer should tackle another key cause of rising health expenses the state’s HMOs. That would be welcome news to William M. Mooney Jr. and the Westchester County Association who have spent the past year battling HMOs on behalf of an unusual coalition of business and health-care providers, including hospitals. But as reporter Kathy Kahn pointed out earlier this month, not all business groups agree with Mooney’s; the Rockland Business Association so far opposes measures that would limit HMO practices.

Another area where the governor can make a positive difference pressing for change is an issue closer to home jump-starting the torpid Tappan Zee Bridge study effort, which has seen squabbling by several of the state’s transportation agencies and a fundamental policy split over the goal a fast link from Rockland to Westchester, complete with mass transit, and a one-seat ride from Rockland to Manhattan? Or only one of the above?

Last month, Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef and his Westchester County counterpart, Andrew J. Spano, urged the state to speed up the pace of reviews.

“Strong leadership must be provided by your office that is not vested in the future of any one agency, but rather would look at the large picture to catapult New York state to the forefront of economic development and mobility,” the county executives wrote in their Feb. 14 letter to Spitzer.

We agree. And just maybe, Spitzer agrees as well. On March 12, he announced the hiring of Timothy J. Gilchrist as deputy secretary for economic development and infrastructure a new $155,000-a-year position overseeing both transportation and economic development agencies. Gilchrist is a 25-year Department of Transportation official who most recently served as chief of transportation strategy for the state.

In short, the governor has gotten off to a flying start. But that won’t be enough to create lasting change in a state crying out for it. As Tommy Tune sang on Broadway in “Seesaw” a generation ago, “It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.”

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