(NYT) — Except for an occasional break to rest his hand, Gov.David A. Paterson spent most of Thursday vetoing thousands of legislative earmarks as lawmakers prepared to depart for the Fourth of July holiday with the state’s budget incomplete and negotiations at a near halt.
Three months after blowing past the March 31 budget deadline, lawmakers have approved $135.7 billion in spending, much of it in a series of emergency bills whose passage has consumed the Capitol in recent weeks.