Republicans in Control of New York State Senate

[Straha]

You're right. But it's not so much that they didn't have the plan, it's that they couldn't put the "Lets go sway them back to our side with promises of massive pork projects" plan into effect until after the vote was resolved and the senate had adjourned. To be fair though, one of the reasons why those two senators jumped ship was because they'd been screwed over in the past by the other democrats. And the promise of money is absolutely meaningless to them because, in order to get them to switch sides, Golisano basically promised them a blank checkbook for their re-election campaign.

Then again, both senators in question are under investigation for various, serious crimes. The senate democrats have that leverage against them, and they have the governor on their side. They may not get a chance to be reelected if the dirt sticks to them and the powers-that-be really campaign against them.

Pff. That's small potatoes. It often feels like almost everyone in New York politics is under investigation for serious crimes. And the powers-that-be have jack and shit to offer, and the blank checkbook of a billionaire is a lot more compelling than some Democratic hobnob (most recently Al Sharpton) begging for you to come back into the fold. The democrats are out home and dry, and Gov. Patterson is about to be hoist on his own petard in not too long to really really screw them over royally. This is going to be a fun few weeks.

[Straha]

An update, of sorts, on this. olu

One of the democratic turn-coats went back to the Democrats, giving the senate a 31-31 split. This resulted in both factions saying that they were the real senate, while neither had enough for Quorum. This has resulted in the Senate doing absolutely no work, and letting all sorts of legislation go unpassed or, worse, expire (like Mayor Bloomberg's control of city schools, an area where he's done a truly excellent job.) True story: a Republican senator wandered through the room which the Democrats were using to convene a senate session, using a short-cut to get to a coca-cola machine. The democrats proceeded to count him as present for their session, establishing Quorum, and passed over a hundred different bills. The Governor, pleased as all shit, called a press conference to gloat about how order has come back to Albany, but when he was told what had happened he threw a (understandable) sulk and declared he wouldn't be signing any of that legislation into law.


The Post has actually had some really good coverage of what's going on. Here's an article on why there hasn't been an agreement between the two groups in the senate:

WHY is the state Senate still stuck in its standoff? It comes down to this: Dem ocrats are too splintered to settle on any truce. Republicans are too desperate for survival to concede any ground. And lawmakers caught in the middle are too afraid to act independently.

Naturally, most attention has centered on the Republican v. Democrat conflict -- but the civil war flaring inside the Democratic conference is just as intense.

At the moment, nobody is running the Democratic camp, which is split along geographic and ideological lines.

Then there's the racial dynamic: A power struggle between the black caucus -- led by Malcolm Smith, the former majority leader, and John Sampson of Brooklyn -- and white members has thrown negotiations into chaos.

Neither Democratic faction trusts the other. For example, many are outraged that Smith has yet to give up his hold on power -- even though he allowed the coup to happen under his watch.

Look at how all this works -- or, rather, doesn't work. Last Thursday, Smith and Republicans thought they'd cut a deal that would make Republican Dean Skelos majority leader, Smith Senate president and Pedro Espada "vice president" and chairman of the finance committee. (At least, that's what some of the folks present say they thought the agreement was.)

But Jeff Klein and Diane Savino, Smith's longstanding rivals among Senate Democrats, feared that this arrangement would marginalize their faction -- a contingent of moderate outerborough, suburban and upstate members. They accused Smith of self-dealing, and Democrats pulled him from the bargaining table.

Republicans no longer know with whom they are negotiating.

But even if Democrats resolved their differences, they won't be able to get Republicans to yield on their key demand -- namely, to strip Espada (who is under multiple investigations into his alleged embezzling of hundreds of thousands of tax dollars) of the Senate presidency, a post that puts him a heartbeat away from the governorship.

Skelos and Republicans say they can't renege on their deal with Espada. And, after all, argues GOP Sen. Marty Golden, "He couldn't be any worse than the current governor."

Golden says Diane Savino called over the weekend with a plea. She asked him: "Are you going to let four people control 58 members?" He responded: "I trust our leaders."

Savino countered: "Do you trust Espada?" to which Golden retorted: "I trust Espada more than the people in your conference."

The Republican resistance goes beyond Espada. According to Albany insiders, GOP leader Dean Skelos is convinced that Republicans just need to hold out a few months before they seize a majority -- which they view as crucial to coming out of the 2010 election with control of redistricting. (Skelos is counting on winning back the seat of Sen. Darrel Aubertine, who is likely to pursue a vacant US House seat.)

Yes, all of this sounds ridiculous. But key here is that lawmakers don't see any incentive to act responsibly. They know that the public rarely holds them accountable for misbehaving. By the time they're up for re-election, they figure, voters will have forgotten that they held state government hostage.

The standoff might have ended by now if one side had a capable leader. But the generals in charge -- a crew of obscure hacks committed to the most petty and selfish political calculations -- have driven the Senate deeper into anarchy.

Sen. Savino's appeal to Golden may be politically motivated; she's looking for a deal that would empower the Klein faction in her conference. But she has a point: The senators don't have to obey leaders who are oblivious to the greater interests at stake.

What if a group of 32 or more senators from both parties agreed on a set of bills to pass, walked into the chamber, and got the job done? New Yorkers, repulsed by the puerility of their government, would honor them as heroes.

The senators wouldn't have to settle the longer-term leadership questions. They could just reauthorize mayoral control of the city's schools and settle other urgent business -- then resume their battle over the summer. It's not so hard.

A more realistic scenario is a repeat of what we saw on Tuesday, when Republican Sen. Frank Padavan happened to waltz through the rear of the Senate chamber just as Democrats were convening.

Padavan, Albany insiders believe, knew exactly what he was doing -- but, once Democrats refused to use their phantom quorum to actually vote on mayoral control, he denied all intention of breaking the logjam.

Given the Democratic disarray, it's probably more likely that one or more of their frustrated members will provide Republicans with the votes to reach the necessary quorum to end the standoff.

That lawmaker would be risking the wrath of his party, but would be cheered by an appreciative public -- especially if he or she refuses to accept any Republican bribes.

So who's willing to step up?

Long story short, as I said in the thread before, the Democrats are too busy stabbing each other in the back to work out a deal with anyone else. Especially if that deal might involve doing anything against the Republicans. Even in their darkest days the Republicans can always take consolation from one thing: their opponents are democrats. (That's true even on the national level.)