“AS you read this, the New York state budget is three months and 25 days overdue.

And still there is no discernible sense of urgency in Albany.

Every day that passes, an operating budget that is at least $9.2 billion in deficit becomes more difficult to correct.

And still there is no discernible sense of urgency in Albany.

WITH the entire Legislature and the governor’s seat up for election in November, there is now afoot perhaps the best opportunity in a generation for government reform, an opportunity that, if history is any guide, may not come for still another generation if not grabbed now.

And still there is no discernible sense of urgency in Albany.

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch is leading the non-profit group called New York Uprising that is at the head of the government reform effort.

The group also includes the likes of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, a Democrat, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican.

The tool of New York Uprising is a pledge to support reform. The pledge promises specific changes in ethics enforcement, redrawing election district lines and a budget process with fiscal discipline.

THE idea is to get candidates for state office — incumbents and challengers — to sign onto the principles, then hold the winners to their promise.

In this, Koch has undergone a conversion with which we make company.

Originally, Koch’s impulse — and ours — was to urge voters to “throw the bums out. The good ones aren’t good enough and the bad ones are evil.”

Now, Koch says, reformers should make common cause with anyone willing to commit themselves to the effort. Some incumbents, he says, wantgood government but are afraid to confront their leaders. New York Uprising is intended to provide the needed political support.

ON that score, what reformers are up against was made crystal clear last week.

For the arrogance of power, little surpasses that of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, who is the most important enemy of reform in the Empire State today.”