Lippman Piddles on Citizens, Governor Cuomo and Justice

Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman needs to cut court system's budget before Gov. Cuomo does it for him
The New York Daily News - EDITORIAL - February 23, 2011

Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman's proposed budget would keep spending at pre-crisis levels.

As the man who must lead the state court system through a fiscal crisis, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman needs to get a lot tighter with tax dollars. His proposed budget would keep right on spending at pre-crisis levels despite the $10 billion deficit Gov. Cuomo is scrambling to balance. Plus, Lippman allocates money for a new well-meaning program when New York can't afford the many well-meaning programs it already has. Lippman's spending plan falls short of the standard Cuomo set in the operations he controls: Each agency is required to chop spending from general tax revenues by a full 10%. Cuomo achieved the target in his own office. He also called for holding the line on big-ticket items like school aid and Medicaid. For the first time since 1996, overall outlays would go down, not up, as Cuomo lopped $3.7 billion off the top. Lippman, by contrast, has called for shaving a piddling $356,000 out of his $1.8 billion operating budget. Factor in soaring benefits costs for his employees, and total spending goes up by $50 million, or almost 2%. His claim that further cutting would grievously harm the court system does not wash. Not when his budget includes $25 million to give lawyers to the poor in civil cases - a service that New York, like most other states, has never offered before. Lippman makes a case that such funding is essential for a truly fair judicial system, but this is not the time to launch such a costly undertaking. This is the time for all public officials to find ways to do more with less - Lippman included. The best way for him to guard the cherished independence of his court system is to sharpen his budget scalpel and trim away. Otherwise, Cuomo and the Legislature will have to do it for him.