The Economic Development Merger
Right idea, wrong direction.

Governor David Paterson wants to improve the effectiveness of the state’s economic development programs by integrating three agencies. The state Public Employees Federation (PEF) agrees with the governor’s goal, but the merger takes the wrong direction.

The governor wants to abolish the state Department of Economic Development (DED) and the Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), merging them into the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC). The merged program would then become an off-budget public authority, with little public disclosure or oversight, creating an expanded dumping ground for highly paid political appointees, while needlessly laying off qualified DED professionals.
Aren’t we trying to move away from that direction?

Don’t we all want more transparency and accountability, not less?

The same goal of improving effectiveness can be achieved by merging ESDC and NYSTAR into DED, the state agency, without any negative impact on cost or efficiency while preserving the civil service and bargaining rights of the employees.

Tell the governor he needs to move in the right direction against DED layoffs and toward more accountability and professionalism, not less.

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This ad was created by the PEF PR department and appeared as a spot color ad on the week of January 26, 2009 of The Albany Legislative Gazette, and The Capitol Feb. 2, 2009 © Copyright 2009.