ONE OF THE MOST surprising moves in the two-year state budget plan that cleared the Senate last week was the proviso that would turn the head of the Youth Development Center Settlement Fund into a political appointee.

Chairman and Sen. James Gray , R-Rochester, was behind the scheme that would make the administrator subject to a confirmation vote of the Executive Council with an at-will term, meaning that person would serve at the “pleasure of the governor” and could be let go at any time.

It’s an open secret that Ayotte has had concerns with the “burn rate” of the settlement fund that’s already spent $165 million since its creation less than three years ago.

Administrator John Broderick was the consensus pick of both Attorney General John Formella and the lead law firms that repr

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