A Question for Carl Paladino

In the newsroom a radio plays one of the local news-talk programs. It's interrupted by a commercial for gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino. We'll be hearing and seeing a lot more of these now that Paladino has apparently secured the signatures necessary to challenge "regular" candidate Rick Lazio in the Republican primary. Paladino's assault is a crisis for the GOP. He's an insurgent candidate, a self-proclaimed champion of the Tea Parties, with plans to run independently on a Taxpayers line should he fail to catch Lazio, who may have more money to spend on the primary campaign than Lazio does.

Paladino, a self-made millionaire, contrasts himself with all "career politicians" while promising substantial cuts in taxes and state spending. He also promotes himself as a candidate with a proven record of creating jobs. You know the point he's trying to make, but it makes you wonder what he plans to do with that skill as governor of New York. As someone like him would be glad to point out under different circumstances, the only jobs a governor can create the way an entrepreneur can create them are public-service jobs. So when he boasts of his job-creating talent as a qualification for the governorship, I'd like to see a Lazio supporter or someone else ask whether Paladino intends to hire more state workers. It'd make the campaign more entertaining for a moment or two.