Gov. Eliot Spitzer sparks the wrong kind of change

By: Vinny Napolitano

Posted: 2/27/08

"On Day 1, Everything Changes."

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer echoed these words non-stop on the campaign trail in 2006. Now, with his first year as governor behind him, Spitzer can honestly say he truly did bring change. However, it's not change he should be too proud of.

For starters, Spitzer's promise to change the state's budget problem did not turn out quite the way New Yorkers expected.

Spitzer increased overall government size by approximately 15 percent, according to The New York Post. He made the state's Medicaid plan the most expensive in the nation for taxpayers, added an estimated $2 billion to the yearly deficit and presided over New York's transformation into the state with the most jobs lost in the year 2007. Change? Absolutely. Fiscally responsible change? Not so much.

And how can anyone forget the driver's license fiasco? Spitzer issued an executive order in September that would allow illegal aliens to receive driver's licenses regardless of the fact they were, well, illegal residents. A political firestorm ensued, with members of both parties attacking Spitzer as a Siena poll showed 72 percent of New Yorkers opposed the plan. Ultimately, he abandoned his policy, but the damage had been done. Change? You know it. Legal change? Not in the United States.

However, none of this slowed down Dr. Change Love, with more unpopular policies creeping through the system in 2008 as we speak.

The governor wants to pass a new bill that would make abortion a "civil right," forcing all OB-GYN's to perform abortions, including doctors at Catholic and other religious medical centers. ProLife or ProChoice, this proposal should be offensive to any American who believes in freedom. This bill represents governmental tyranny to the highest degree, stepping on the rights of doctors to deny certain procedures and the rights of religious organizations to say "no." Change? Definitely. Change for a freer society? Not in the slightest degree.

Spitzer's also pushing for tax increases from "sins" and online purchases. He has proposed raising the tax on flavored malt liquor - such as Mike's Hard Lemonade or Smirnoff Ice - and taxes on these drinks would increase from $0.11 a gallon to $2.43 per gallon. He also wants a "sin tax" increase for little cigars ($1.23 more per pack), cigarettes (proposed $3.00 per pack tax) and illegal drugs (priced according to street value, with the bill sent to dealers). Spitzer even wants to place sales taxes on purchases from online retailers like Amazon.com, which will effectively harm New York shoppers, college students included. After all, they sometimes rely on online venders for cheaper textbook prices. All of these taxes will ultimately hurt the middle and lower-class taxpayers and small businesses the most. Change? You bet. But change will be all that's left in your wallet.

In short, there is no denying Spitzer brought change, but every single modification has been for the worst (and the 65 percent of New Yorkers who rated his performance as governor negatively in last week's Siena poll agree). In the future, voters should be more careful about who they cast their ballots in favor of when dealing with such important executive offices. You never know what the hollow campaign word "change" will really mean in practice.

Vinny Napolitano is a political science, American history and political philosophy major. He is the executive director of the College Republicans. His columns appear every Wednesday. He can be reached at vsnapoli@syr.edu.