The Senate switch in Albany giving control back to the Republicans came as quickly and decisively as Tuesday morning's sweeping rainstorm. Hopefully, it will also clear some of the foul air in Albany as well.

New Yorkers are tired of partisan politics permeating their state government and are looking for a fair-minded, bipartisan approach to reform and legislation that will lead us to a state government that is fiscally sound, effective, efficient and responsive to the needs of all New Yorkers. What we have had in recent years are turf wars between those lawmakers representing upstaters and downstaters, and New York City. We have seen member items, committee posts and pet projects divvied out like candy to good children. Gaining the power of the majority should not mean taking advantage and taking punitive action against those who have different philosophical and political views. It should mean reaching down and coming up with great leadership.

New York faces many challenges and our future is staring us in the face. It's called California. Our lawmakers need to come up with a fair, equitable system of distributing state aid to education that everyone can understand and afford; they need to have the political and personal fortitude to fight off the influence of special interests and they must recognize that the health of the whole is only as secure as the health of all of the parts. They must resist the "feel good" mentality of passing along mandates without passing along the funds needed to implement them. They must work harder to make sure New York does not follow California into disaster. Let's see if this new and fragile majority in the Senate will work toward these vital goals.