Confused Kirsten

It seems that every time we think that Congresswoman Gillibrand can't become any more of a joke, she goes out there and proves us wrong.

First she railed about openness in government but refused to release her tax returns. Then she campaigned on a pledge not to raise taxes, only to vote to raise taxes within days of being sworn in. Raising campaign money in Europe, voting to give benefits to illegal aliens and "where's the state fair this year?"--the punchlines just never seemed to end. And they haven't, because now, Kirsten Gillibrand has taken up a new cause, unfunded mandates, and she's doing it with the skill, the passion and the categorical rejection of reality that only she can muster.

At a forum in Livingston (Columbia County), Gillibrand skillfully managed to complain about New York's property taxes and plant the blame squarely on Republicans in Washington DC. This is surprising for a few reasons. For starters, the Congresswoman told us in 2006 that if the Democrats took over Congress, they were going to fix all these problems. But this is as much about Washington DC as it is about this week's horoscope. As Gillibrand should know from paying property taxes on her Manhattan penthouse, state property taxes are set by and paid to Albany (that's in upstate, Congresswoman, where we have the state fair). These taxes are as high as they are because of Gillibrand's fellow Democrats, Eliot Spitzer, Sheldon Silver and Tim Gordon, spend too much of our money, not because of decrees from Washington, but because they choose to. Thanks to the Albany Democrats, New York spends more on Medicaid than Texas and California combined, not because of "unfunded mandates" but because the Dems seem to get a real thrill out of spending our taxdollars.

Congresswoman Gillibrand told the folks in Livingston she was going to look into the staggering property taxes we face. She should start by looking at a map, because after that, she need look no further than her own party.