The last wall of defense has crumbled. The GOP Senate wall which protected upstate New York for decades will soon be a memory. In a little more than 50 days the Democratic Party will hold the power in all three branches of New York State government; the Assembly, the Senate and the Governor’s seat.

Left leaning elected officials from metropolitan New York for years called the Republican-led Senate “an obstacle to real progressive legislation.” Last week’s election results might be the end of any sort of fiscal responsibility in our state. The last time the Dems held legislative dominance they enacted $14 billion – with a B – in new spending. This cost an average middle-class New York family about $2400 in 2009 alone and a nearly $5000 impact over two years when the left held all the cards. The upstate New York economy, already in misery, will not weather this well if past legislative performance repeats itself.

Predictions are the first agenda item will be a pay raise for the state lawmakers. We can only hope they don’t vote to end their part-time job status. Imagine the damage they could do if they were in Albany full-time. Then there are some progressive ideas which are sure to become law very soon in the Empire State, such as; codifying Roe V. Wade into law, more control over firearms AND ammunition, recreational marijuana on the fast-track, taxpayer-funded political campaigns, and the big-ticket item – single-payer health insurance. Every one of any political party should think about the impact of that last item, long and hard. And with one party in power, don’t expect there will be any real ethics legislation passed.

The 800-pound gorilla in our state, New York City, has all the juice now. The city’s metro-area and Long Island have a strong economy and the higher wages that go along with it. They also just received news Amazon HQ2 will build in the borough of Queens after the state offered $1.3 billion in incentives. Because downstate has all the votes, what they want becomes the law of the land and we in rural upstate get pulled along for the ride. Once a strong Republican area, Long Island lost six of nine Republican Senate seats at my last count, but this may have changed.

Supposedly a high tide raises all boats, but the region between Buffalo and Albany has never recovered from the 2008 recession in the same way as downstate. As a whole, New York State looks great on paper; the latest data available shows NY’s private sector job growth between 2009 through 2018 over 15.1% - even higher than the national average of 14.8% for the same period. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

When you drill down into the details, all of that growth is found in the metro-NYC region. The numbers upstate indicate 38 out the total 62 counties in New York reported flat numbers for the past 10 years in new private sector jobs and wage increases. Near to us, Broome, Delaware, and Tioga counties lost 5% of their jobs. Luckily for Chenango County statistics, we have a low population total and a couple of industries that are hiring, Chobani and Raymond Corporation, to help our numbers seem better than our neighbors.

Nearly all the upstate Democrats voted the party line, even though it will probably be the death knell of our already struggling economy. New York State is already ranked 50 out of 50 by Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom. We are ranked 50th in the Cato Institute’s ‘Freedom in the 50 States’ index. However, the Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate index has us rated at 49 – now there’s something to cheer about. New Jersey comes in at number 50, the only state with a worse business climate than our own.

Approaching on the near horizon is the 2020 national census. The population in New York overall is growing, again only in the metro region, with declining numbers upstate. When the Democrats take charge politically in 2019, they are sure to want it to stay in charge. Stay tuned for the 2020 gerrymandering of political maps. A favorite tactic is to move the lines to pit two members of the opposition party against each other. We may see a primary with Senator Seward running against Senator Akshar for a seat newly created district. I had a chance to visit with Senator Fred Akshar this past weekend. When asked for his thoughts on the next legislative term beginning in January he said: “we’re all in trouble.” With all the power in one party, at least we will know who to give thanks for the upstate economy – or who to blame.