To the Editor:

I was aghast, but not surprised at the revelation by North Country Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne that not only did NY spend an absurd amount of 50 million dollars to brand and promote the “Start-Up NY” program, but now wants to rename it, no doubt at a similar or even greater cost.

The ludicrous amount of tax dollars spent to promote this program demonstrates again that Albany is not only grossly incompetent with spending such funds judiciously in the best interest of the public good, but that certain commercial parties with political connections must be benefitting financially by overcharging and giving so little at so much expense.

The situation reminds me of an old Woody Woodpecker cartoon, where the woodcutting cartoon bird whittles a mightily redwood tree to produce a single toothpick. What a dismal waste. How many out of work citizens could have been provided jobs with that money?

Why is no one Albany capable of doing the math to determine the greatest amount of bang for the buck? Either incompetence and corruption, or both, must be the answer. Our elected officials should be better than this.

Ron Shirtz

Rensselaer Falls