Democracy in Albany 2

The past week and a half in Albany has been one for the history books. Not because of any major legislation the Republicans would’ve introduced after their surprise Senate takeover; quite the contrary. As a result of span>the June 8th Senate floor coup<, New York’s government has come to a complete and total standstill. To begin, the bipartisan “Senate Reform Coalition” established last Monday is no longer the majority caucus (or even all that bipartisan). One of the two Democrats that had defected to the GOP’s coalition, Queens Senator Hiram Monserrate (the one who slashed his girlfriend), span>has been wooed back home<. The sides are now evenly split, 31-31, without a lieutenant governor to break a tie. In other words: because of one man’s frantic indecision, the New York State Senate is now suffering worse gridlock than Times Square at rush hour. However, it’s worth keeping in mind that this week’s public enemy was last week’s celebrity. Between Monday 6/8 and Monday 6/15, Sen. Monserrate was arguably span>the most important man in New York<. The other Democratic defector, Pedro Espada, Jr. of the Bronx, was openly appreciative of his new role as Senate Pro Tempore and clearly had no ambition of undoing his switch. Monserrate was different. Thus, the Democrats and the GOP were forced to spend an entire week sucking up to one of the sleaziest men in the Empire State. After all the panic-driven lobbying, personal phone calls, private meetings and Lord-knows-what-else, span>Monserrate jumped ship< for the second time in seven days. Monserrate’s reason for re-defection is twofold. First, the main source of his personal aggravation with the Democrats, Senator Malcolm Smith, is no longer their conference leader. span>Smith has been replaced< by span>Senator John Sampson< from Brooklyn, who publicly called Monserrate “my brother” earlier this week. (Last week, Smith’s spokesman called him “a thug.”) Second, it’s widely assumed that the Democrats convinced Monserrate that even if he escapes his felony charge, his career wouldn’t live past 2010 after siding with the Republicans. Only with the Democrats’ full support could Monserrate defeat or deter a primary challenge. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse. Nevertheless, the remarriage of Senator Monserrate and the Democratic caucus is one of convenience and nothing more, mostly on the part of the latter. The Politcker’s span>Jimmy Vielkind sums up< the Democrats’ attitude perfectly: “We'll take your vote, Hiram, but don't look for a hug.” Senator Liz Krueger went on the record to state, “We basically were trapped in our need to get to 31-31 at this point in time.” The coup had handed them sour lemons, Kruger implied, “I think we're making lemonade.” But even with an equal number of members as the Senate Reform Coalition, the Democrats are still confined to minority party status after the events of 6/8. After all, the vote to install new leadership can’t be erased from history or simply undone by enough loud protests or empty legal challenges, which the Democrats span>seemed to be relying upon<. Remember, this is the same caucus that, on the day of the coup, adjourned without a vote, sprinted out of the Senate chamber, turned off the lights, and cut the live internet feed in hopes of thwarting the imminent reality of their overthrow. The law, however, has thus far thwarted them. This past Tuesday, state Supreme Court Justice Thomas span>McNamara finally dismissed< a ridiculous lawsuit desperately filed by Malcolm Smith seeking to retain his Majority Leader status. Smith had hoped to re-empower himself and his party with the stroke of a judge’s pen. In truth, McNamara’s decision deserves two cheers. On the one hand, McNamara exercised remarkable judicial restraint by refusing to intrude into what he called “the inner workings of a coequal branch of government.” Thus, the 32-30 vote for new leadership that took place on 6/8 was left unscathed and Smith was denied a title-by-decree. Republican Sen. Dean Skelos, the newly elected Majority Leader, rightly retains his claim to the title, for now, and so does Espada as Senate Pro Tem. On the other hand, McNamara’s decision puts the entire matter back into the hands of the dueling Senate conferences whose debate has regressed to a junior high ruckus over who gets to sit on student council. The Democrats are span>stubbornly refusing to even recognize< the legitimacy of Skelos or Espada’s leadership roles, which are historically held by the same individual. The Republicans have been trying to hold session, but haven’t been able to attract more than 31 Senators to do so. In an effort to end the stalemate that moderate Democratic Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. recently called “span>worse than ever<,” each side has produced its own “power-sharing agreement” to bring the crisis to an end. See the span>Republican< and span>Democratic< proposals for yourself. span>Capitol Confidential< covers the Democrats’ idea:

Senate Democrats proposed a power-sharing plan to Senate Republicans that would include the following provisions:

1. On session days, rotate the position of temporary president between two the parties on a daily basis.
2. The floor leader from the opposition party would preside with opposing temporary president “to provide better balance.”
3. A bipartisan committee of 6 senators, three from each party, to set the session agenda.

span>PolitickerNY< sums the GOP plan:

The Republican proposal would last until 2011. It would leave Republican leader Dean Skelos in the majority leader post and State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., a Democrat, as president pro tempore. The two would jointly publish an active list of bills, but any member could move to have a bill they sponsored put on the next active list if "a majority of members present and voting agree." Further, "any bill on the calendar may be considered on the net active list upon the presentation of a petition signed by the majority of the members elected to the Senate.

(For Sen. Sampson’s plan, span>see here<. He may be alright after all!) Predictably, neither side has acquiesced. Instead, span>tensions are rising sharply<, especially as the Democrats focus their animosity at Espada, who they seriously, vengefully wish to keep from serving as Senate president. Yesterday, at 12:29 p.m, span>GOP and Democratic Senators headed to a meeting< in the Capitol. What negotiations, if any, would have come of it remained to be seen. As Majority Leader Skelos put it, “We’re going to have a conversation. That’s it.” At 1:13 p.m., according to span>Capitol Confidential<, the meeting came to an end after the Democrats walked out:

The Democrats said little as they pushed past reporters. Klein said there was “no agreement.” Sampson said, “We’re still negotiating.”

Stay tuned. But get comfortable. The return of the New York Senate may take a while.