ALBANY PACKS IT IN

It turns out that there is something our state "leaders" consider
sacrosanct, after all.

No, it's surely not the state budget, which is late for the 20th
consecutive year.

No, it's not the court-mandated July 30 deadline for a new school aid
formula. There hasn't been much progress on that.

No, it's not relief for the counties from soaring Medicaid costs that
have wrecked their budgets. Nor long-overdue reform of the
Rockefeller-era drug laws that clog prisons with non-violent offenders.

No, it's not any of the problems that plague the state.

It's Getaway Day. Today. The legislative "leaders" are honoring their
commitment to send the rank-and-file members home. Late last year, the
legislative leaders targeted June 22 as the last day of their regular
session. They intend to abide by it.

They will, of course, summon them back to Albany to ratify any
agreements they might achieve in the coming months.

"They should be made to stay here until the job is done," said Anne
Byrne, president of the School Boards Association. "Isn't that why we
elect them? Isn't that why we pay them?"

She's technically correct, but that's only how it works in every other
state. New York's is the most dysfunctional government in all the
land. Except when it comes to taking time off.