“With the hearings to analyze the governor’s economic development ideas we once again have overwhelming evidence of a failed system that both wastes taxpayer money and is ripe for corruption. How much more money does Gov. Cuomo want to throw into START-UP NY just to have it siphoned off by the greedy and corrupt?

“From the ‘thousands’ of jobs the program was supposed to create we barely have over a thousand. Those are ludicrous results for the hundreds of millions of dollars being poured into these programs. The writing on the wall is clear, cut the programs and save our taxpayers money.

“There are other ways to promote economic growth than giving out a giant check to a company that wins the lottery. We need to be supporting our small businesses and giving everyone a chance to compete, not just those handpicked by the governor.

“Enacting the Small Business Full Employment Act would do just that. Cutting small businesses taxes and giving them the latitude to operate without the state regulating every single little decision is the way forward (A.5423). That is how we grow our economy, not by taking taxpayer money and throwing it down a bottomless pit.”