Albany's Annus Miserabilis

For Albany, it's been an amazing year. One shock after another. The NY Times yesterday toted up some of the startling events that occurred upstate during the past twelve months. We all know most of them-- Spitzer's spectacularly indecent crash-and-burn, Hevesi's downfall over petty misuse of government perks, Bruno's surprising decision not to run again, the emergence of Paterson, New York's first black (and legally blind) governor. Plus a bunch of corruption cases that were less public, less unusual, only suggested, not detailed by the gray lady. Nothing in the Times article was especially new (unless you hadn't heard that Governor Paterson, along with acknowledging his various marital digressions, had also admitted to using marijuana and cocaine), but for the future the cumulative effect of so many shocks to the political system is still an unknown. Will Bruno's departure finally oil the tracks at the state legislature? Will the news from our usually inert, dun-colored and immovable state capitol change from the familiar story: nothing new, nothing happening, no budget yet, no compromises in the air, all representatives mired in stony party positions, no possibility of reform where reform is needed. Any chance that next year will be better? An annus mirabilis?