By Budd Schroeder S.C.O.P.E. At-Large Director, Chairman Emeritus  

There is a real problem in New York. We have a huge scandal that involves Governor Andrew Cuomo and several of his close friends and contributors in what is an overload of corruption. New York has a national reputation for being very high on the list of corrupt governments. The “Three Men in a Room” has long been criticized, but never corrected.

Two of the three, Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos have been convicted, but still are not in prison. Power and money can do marvelous things when abused by talented abusers. However, Andrew Cuomo was the third man in the room and he has not been indicted. There have been calls to have him indicted, but the power and money aspect seem to be working there, too.

However, since Cuomo has more than $30 million in his campaign war chest and many huge donations have been connected to lucrative state contracts, it may come to pass that some Attorney General would be interested in having an investigation. Probably would happen if the governor was a Republican.

As it stands, in politics perception can have the same effect as facts, and this could influence the election. However, there must be an alternative in the race to make it possible. Fortunately, there is a viable alternative candidate on the Republican and Conservative lines to make the change possible.

That candidate is Marc Molinaro who is like a breath of fresh air in a cheese factory. He is a fresh face with fresh ideas that are workable and reasonable. His problem is that, compared to Cuomo, he is underfunded and money is important. As a campaigner, he is outstanding, very likable and has a good program filled with possibilities rather than promises. At a recent campaign stop he spoke of the connections of his opponent to the size of his campaign funds and the timing of the lucrative contracts given to donors. Simple path relating cause to effect!

Marc Molinaro speaks to his audience with unusual sincerity for a politician. He does not tell them what he thinks they want to hear. Instead he presents the problems and his intention to solve them. His solutions make sense. Especially in the financial problems of New York! The expected deficit in the Cuomo budget for next year is more than $14 billion.

He talks about the tax suckers of state unfunded mandates which is a major problem regarding property taxes. Also, there is much waste and inefficiency in the bureaucracy that can be trimmed. He wants to give the tax breaks to small businesses that are the backbone of the country rather than the large corporations who get huge breaks and incentives. The current scandals involve some big businesses who promised thousands of jobs but haven’t even come close. Calling it “a drop in the bucket’’ would be a huge exaggeration of numbers.

The choice should be easy for the voters. As the campaign progresses, there will be the opportunity to make their decision on who will be the next governor. Shall we continue with corrupt and expensive government, or shall we elect someone who will stop the corruption and going deeper in debt?

This is a very important decision. Choose wisely, and vote.