It is official: Andrew Cuomo and Robert Duffy are the choice of the Democratic Party in New York state to run for governor and lieutenant governor. They are both great men with great records of service, but if they win the election, they will lord over a house of horrors filled with politicians who do not have the one thing that makes a politician effective - accountability.

This is becoming more evident with the latest state budget process. Gov. David Paterson makes a threat to legislators and they do not even blink. Why should they? The sad reality of New York state's Assembly and Senate is that a candidate stands a better chance of losing their seat from dying than voters ousting them in their gerrymandered districts.

It rather reminds me of the situation I have at home with two of our dogs. The one we recently adopted is a Chihuahua mix, a teeny dog that likes to bark loudly at our Labrador mix who is much bigger. The Lab looks at the Chihuahua like, "are you kidding me," and shoves the Chihuahua across the room with his snout.

Sadly, the little dog is the governor - lots of bark and no bite. The big dog is the Senate and Assembly, both groups knowing that they have nothing to worry about and that even if the little Chihuahua bites them, they can simply shove it across the room.

Very simply stated, there is no democracy at the state level, and lawmakers know it and nobody has the money or the power to change the system, which is run by the people who benefit most from its dysfunctional ways.

In local news, one of the proposed designs for Albion's new library has the main entrance facing away form Main Street at a side angle. I know many people in the community are afraid of taking on this issue because the library board is a virtual who's who of Albion, but facing away from Main Street defeats the purpose of purchasing the Main Street location. Many people I have spoken to were aghast when they realized the old Dale's building was being razed rather than retrofitted; this latest idea of a library that does not face Main Street is simply perplexing.

One of the things I read said that the planners wanted to avoid a "strip mall" look. If that was the case, then cheaper property could have been purchased rather than taking prime real estate off the tax rolls for an unconventional design. Having a business next door that faces Main Street means the contrast between it and the library could create an aesthetic nightmare, but I will reserve final judgment until the preliminary plans are released to the public - which probably should have been done already.

This does not mean I do not support the library project, which I am sure for political reasons some people will try to spin my take on the design issue. I am just not sold on a design that does fully showcase the front of a building on Main Street.