Sorry, to those who are bored, to take my argument with Mr. Wonk to another post, but I think this is an important issue. 

I believe the "free media" given to incumbent politicians during their terms, combined with a lack of similar attention to challengers (other than those with "interesting" backgrounds like KT), is in part responsible for the lack of competitive legislative and congressional elections.  As responsible, if not more so, than imbalances in money and gerrymandering.

When I’ve had this discussion with journalists such as Ben Smith and Erik Engquist (the latter, unlike other news outlets, did write about my protest campaign for state assembly two years ago). Ben responded that it’s a dilemma since you want to be evenhanded but you also don’t want to waste the reader’s time with something that is not significant — like a challenger with no chance to win.  Erik pointed out that you have to work to get the attention of reporters rather than just send literature and letters asking for an interview, as I did, and that there are other ways (community organizing, prior successes) to draw press attention.

Now that I know how to post spreadsheets here, why not go nuts?

I attached a spreadsheet on health care finance backing up my assertions on that subject in an earlier post.

I attached a spreadsheet of comparable fiscal 2004 local government finance data to my prior post on who the winners  are in New York tax and spending priorities.

And, for comparison, attached here is more detailed information for FY 2002, for New York City, the Downstate Suburbs, Upstate Metros, the rest ofr New York State, New Jersey, the United States, and Fairfield County.

In addition, for the fun of it, I also attached on spreadhseet on comparative local goverment finance in several parts of California.  I whipped this up to send out to Donna Frye, in lieu of donation, who was running for Mayor of San Diego.  I hope she found it useful, but she lost.  Would that we had a Donna and Skip Frye in New York.

New Yorkers who have been paying attention must wonder what to think about the interests that rule the roost in Albany.  On one hand, you local doctor or hospital might do its best to make you well.  On the other hand, despite getting far more taxpayer money here than elsewhere, the Greater New York Hospital Association and Local 1199 put out commercials threatening to kill our babies if there is any limit on their funding.  On one hand, many NYC schoolteachers use their own money to buy school supplies.  On the other hand, the UFT has as its top goal a retirement at age 55, not a better education for New York City’s children.  Many city residents have friends and relatives in the suburbs or upstate who seem nice enough.  But their representatives in Albany have created a reverse Robin Hood school aid system that may be the least just in the nation, all at the expense of New York City’s children.  The members of the TWU rebuilt the transit system after the 1970s.  But they went on strike to get an early retirement at age 50, the cost of which would re-create the 1970s, without ever thinking about their own situation relative to those who pay their salaries, most of whom have no pension at all.  Your grandma seems nice.  The AARP gets more health benefits for the seniors, without giving a damn about the uninsured, or what will be left (besides debt) for future generations when they get old.  Your state legislator seems like a nice guy; the legislature is evil.

It is attached.  To understand it, read the prior post with 2005 data.

Note that this much larger file provides local government data for every county in New York State.

That data isn’t exactly comparable with to regional totals.  How do you allocate the LIRR, which counts as "state data" but has been allocated to Downstate New York local government to make it comparable with NYC and the U.S., between Nassau and Suffolk for example.  But it is pretty close.  So you can adjust the formulas in the output tables for data for any set of counties you choose.

Isn’t technology wonderful?  I’ve just finished compiling 2005 local government employment and payroll data from the U.S. Census Bureau, along with some relevant private-sector data, for New York City, the Rest of New York State, the U.S. average, and (well almost done) New Jersey.  And, I’m told by the management that I can actually attach the spreadsheet to this post, available for you to download.  I will attempt to do so, but if that doesn’t work you can still get it by e-mailing me at vampire-state (at) att.net.  I’ll be writing about the implications of the numbers (which are very much like those in 2002, 2000, 1997, etc. etc.) in the coming weeks, but for now I’ll just provide them and explain how they are calculated.