There is a raft of labor bills advancing in the Legislature, where the combination of one-stop shopping and the political weakness of an accidental governor without voter mandate are simply irresistible to the self-interested.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York is specifically warning that two measures sought in Albany by municipal unions would cost his city as much as $300 million a year.

One bill flagged by Bloomberg would allow some workers to retroactively buy into an early retirement plan, enabling the workers to retire at age 55, rather than 62. Bloomberg estimates this would cost the city $200 million per year.

The other would allow some workers at city hospitals to retire at age 50. City officials estimate the price tag at $60 million to $100 million.

Peter Abbate Jr., D-Brooklyn, who is Assembly sponsor of both bills, says neither would cost anything. There was no word whether the assemblyman also believes in the tooth fairy.

But a little digging by The New York Times uncovered that the actuarial expert who backed that point of view for the required analysis of the legislation's fiscal impact was, in fact, hired not by the state, but by unions. The actuary told the Times that "he routinely skewed his projections to favor the unions" and candidly referred to his job, in which he has analyzed hundreds of legislative bills, as "a step above voodoo."

Still, at least the first measure has the backing of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, and both bills have a Republican sponsor in the Senate, which usually means the approval of the majority conference.

It is a measure of the unreality of the place that Albany World is even entertaining the possibility.

First and foremost, the proper venue for these sorts of measures is the bargaining table between the parties to the labor contract, not the state Legislature.

Second, given the floundering economy and the unfavorable tide against municipal finance, this is hardly the time for the Legislature to be heaping new obligations on local governments, tried and true through thick and thin though that pattern of behavior may be in this grand Empire State.

Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat with strong historical ties to organized labor, has not taken a formal position on the bills. As an accidental governor, he'd not be in the best of positions to resist the tide, even if he were so-inclined.

Still, there is hope. Paterson told the Times that he would resist any increased spending in the coming weeks. "Someone has to present fiscal reality to the Legislature, the advocates and a lot of otherwise good causes," Paterson said.

Presumably minus the voodoo.