ALBANY – Republican gubernatorial pick Rick Lazio stopped short of a pledge to fire state workers during an appearance on Fox Business this morning, saying layoffs would be “on the table” if he won office.
The former congressman asked whether he would commit to layoffs if Gov. Paterson followed through on a mass layoff plan scheduled to start Jan. 1, just as his successor would be moving into the Executive Mansion.
“The state is broke. We don’t have the money. We have to shrink the size of the workforce,” said Lazio, who Republicans endorsed last week over Democrat-turned-Republican Steve Levy.
“Yes, layoffs have got to be on the table,” Lazio said on the cable business news network.
“The unions are going to have a choice. They will either come up with savings comparable to the layoffs or we’ll do the layoffs there’s not other choice.”
Paterson resorted to the layoffs after a federal judge tossed his efforts to freeze the pay of state workers and put as many as 100,000 government employees on weekly forced furloughs.
The governor delayed the plan’s start date until the new year because he last year agree to forgo layoffs in exchange for union support for a new less generous pension tier for new hires.
Democratic nominee Andrew Cuomo has also promised a hard line on the state workforce and called for an across-the-board wage freeze and a 20 percent reduction in state agencies, authorities and commissions.
But Lazio accused Cuomo of failing to take a position on the layoffs.
“Andrew Cuomo by the way won’t say anything on this,” Lazio said. “Where’s the leadership?”