Appearing with New York State Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco (center) and Ranking Minority Member of the Ways and Means Committee, Jim Hayes (left), Assemblyman Dave McDonough (R,C,I – Merrick) (right) called on Governor Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and Speaker Sheldon Silver to open up the budget process to ensure transparency and oversight. McDonough and his colleagues in both the Senate and the Assembly, including Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, have, thus far, been kept out of the closed-door budget negotiations of the three New York City leaders despite budget reforms passed in 2007 intended to open up the process.

“In order to get a fair and on-time budget during these tough economic times, we must all work together in a bipartisan way to resolve the $13.5 billion budget deficit and create a positive long-term agenda that gets New York’s economy working again,” said McDonough.