PATAKI'S PROGRESS

The governor has promising proposals on drug laws and school aid, but is he
overspending?

In his seventh and seemingly not last state -of-the-state speech, Gov.
George Pataki delivered a litany of proposals that might have stirred one of
his heroes, Ronald Reagan, to say, "There he goes again." A good portion of
Pataki's agenda is so progressive-everything from expanding state-funded
health insurance to softening excessively harsh drug laws-that you don't
have to be a cynic to decide he is more interested in running for
re-election than seeking a spot on a conservative new White House team.

That's a good thing for New York. The nation's third-largest state demands a
chief executive focused on the present and, perhaps more important, on the
future.

The future remains a problem, even for many of Pataki's most admirable
initiatives. They are not only extremely expensive short term-as are a
number of programs approved in the past few years-but many will balloon in
cost down the road, when a weaker economy may make them unaffordable.

Of course, the state-of-the-state speech is only a rough rendering; the
state budget is the detailed blueprint of what the governor would like the
Legislature to do. The devil is in the details of even the most laudable
program. And how hard Pataki is willing to push his agenda can make all the
difference.

That's why at least two of his potentially exciting initiatives bear
particular attention.

One is Pataki's call to "dramatically reform" New York's so-called
Rockefeller drug laws, which have clogged prisons with inmates sentenced to
long terms for possessing small amounts of narcotics. It's Republican
refusals to approve such reforms that, Pataki correctly said, have left New
York "out of step with both the times and complexities of drug addiction."
He has talked about this before, but never put his muscle behind it. This
year, he must.

Reform of school aid formulas, which Pataki also cited as a goal, also
desperately needs a gubernatorial push. The current system awards money
based as much on politics as on educational and economic need. It's unclear
how combining 11 separate aid streams into block grants, as he proposes,
would drive a larger share of aid to the neediest districts.

Overall, though, give Pataki credit for continuing the state on a
progressive yet generally prudent course-as long as New York can afford his
programs, now and in the future.