Assemblyman Scott Bendett (R,C-Sand Lake) today criticized the governor for joking about New York’s late state budget during this year’s Legislative Correspondents’ Association (LCA) show, saying the comments revealed “just how disconnected Albany has become from the people expected to live with the consequences.”

During her bit, the governor delivered this punchline:

“Those of you who thought we’d have a budget by the LCA Show? You just lost big on Kalshi. That’s how we filled New York City’s budget gap.”

“Normally, the LCA show is good for Albany,” Bendett said. “It’s one night where the politics soften a little. People laugh, take a breath and remember not everything has to be a fight. I’ve always appreciated that about it.”

“But this year was different.”

“Because while the governor was joking about another late budget, school districts back home had just spent the previous night asking taxpayers to vote on budgets of their own. Parents were sitting at kitchen tables deciding what they could afford. School boards were making difficult choices about staffing and programs. Communities were treating their responsibilities seriously.”

“And Albany was treating its failure like a punchline.”

Bendett said the problem is not simply that the budget is late, but that lateness has become so routine in Albany that leaders now openly joke about it while the rest of the state deals with the uncertainty it creates.

“A late state budget doesn’t stay trapped inside the Capitol walls,” Bendett said. “It spills into classrooms, town halls and family budgets. It delays planning. It creates uncertainty. It tells local communities to figure things out while the people responsible for the delay stand under stage lights, chuckling over it.”

Bendett said what made the moment particularly striking was the contrast between the seriousness shown by local communities and the casualness displayed in Albany.

“There’s nothing wrong with laughter; I love a good joke. But when government failure becomes a joke, eventually people stop laughing.”