So now we know how much money the state has to spend in its next budget – and how much it doesn’t. That’s an achievement in itself. For years, the governor, Assembly and Senate each held to their separate revenue projections, and for years the differences became the basis for protracted budget impasses, as all sides argued over how much money the state could expect to have on hand for its next budget year. But last year, Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Legislature agreed on a reform measure that set a deadline for a revenue consensus.
Given that agreement, there should have been no reason to expect any prolonged differences over revenue this year, but Mr. Spitzer’s bitter …