Gridlock ends as State Senate gets to work
Several bills passed overnight after month-long standoff
ALBANY — The impasse is over — at least for now.
After Sen. Pedro Espada returned to the Democratic fold Thursday, the state Senate began passing legislation stalled for the past month and by early this morning approved 135 bills. One authorizes a Genesee County sales tax and another clarifies how the Buffalo control board can become advisory.
Also passed overnight was a bill extending a discount energy program for companies and the fifth phase of the Buffalo school construction initiative. Lawmakers said they expect the governor to call both houses back to Albany next week to consider more measures, possibly including a gay marriage bill.
In return for returning to his Democratic colleagues, Espada obtained a lesser title of majority leader. “I had a little leave of absence,” he said, standing next to colleagues who over the last month questioned his ethics and legal residency that some should said should have landed him jail.
Problems quickly developed when Republicans accused Democrats of abandoning a pledge to adopt rules changes to make the chamber more equitable for the GOP. They also said Democrats wanted to ram through a $85 million pork-barrel package — 90 percent of which would go to Democratic districts.
“They feel empowered now. They can do whatever they want,” said Skelos, who threatened to spend two hours debating each of more than 100 bills if the pork spending wasn’t delayed.
Republicans insisted they launched the coup after watching a conference controlled by New York City-based Democrats enact in April an inflation-busting, tax-filled state budget in near total secrecy. They insist that the Democratic takeover that began in January has been especially bad for upstate.
While the Democrats take back control after a month of a shuttered Senate, they do so with another razor-thin, 32-30 majority and much dissension within their ranks after a bruising battle since the coup.
Even in losing control with Espada’s retreat, the Senate’s top Republican predicted that Republicans could be back in power in six months.
“They have factions that hate each other,” said Sen. Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican who had been made majority leader in the coup. He added that warring sides in the Democratic group “would like to quite honestly slit each other’s throats.”
“I think it’s going to be very, very difficult for them to lead and govern while we have 30-strong right here,” he said.
“Just a little speed bump,” said Sen. John L. Sampson of Brooklyn, the Democratic conference leader.
There were other strange delays. One Democratic senator had to abruptly return to New York City for a visit to his doctor. Sen. George Onorato said he had to have his pacemaker adjusted. Without him, Democrats didn’t have enough votes for their own quorum. He was escorted back to Albany on the Thruway by state troopers.
Espada, who said he was “profoundly” sorry for the Senate gridlock, was coy about his reasons for returning, insisting that there were “no conditions” or rewards other than a promise by Democrats to enact major rules changes to end the days of Albany punishing minority party senators and rewarding those in charge with disproportionate pork-barrel allotments and easier paths to legislation getting passed.
Republicans insisted they launched the coup after watching a conference controlled by New York City-based Democrats enact in April an inflation-busting, tax-filled state budget in near total secrecy. They insist that the Democratic takeover that began in January after 70 years of GOP dominance has been especially bad for upstate.
“I’m proud to say Democrats are back in charge today,” said Sen. Jeff Klein, a Bronx Democrat and deputy majority leader.
Klein spoke at an event with a half-dozen other Democratic leaders two hours after word spread of Espada’s return; not a single senator from upstate was given the microphone by the back-in-power leadership.
“I’m in politics, does that answer your question?” Sen. Thomas Libous, a Binghamton Republican, said when asked if he felt betrayed by Espada.
Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, helped orchestrate the coup, along with Buffalo Sabres owner B. Thomas Golisano and his political adviser, G. Steven Pigeon.
Golisano and Pigeon got much publicity over how the Democrats had been bad for the state and that Espada’s defection would be a blessing for upstate. Thursday, Golisano, who made a victory lap on June 8 at the Capitol, was nowhere to be seen.
“No, I’m not disappointed,” said Maziarz, who believes that a deal was made to share Senate resources between Democrats and Republicans. “One of the things this has shown is, upstate is going to be a player in this thing now. We’re not just going to roll over.”
“Tom Golisano is a big winner,” Pigeon said, adding that deals are in place to give Republican senators more funding, some committee chairmanships and larger staffs, as well as dampening the supreme control over bills long held by Senate leaders.
The deal, Pigeon said, calls for giving more power to rank-and-file legislators, such as making it easier to get bills onto the floor. “And upstate is going to have a seat at the table,” he said of his new job as counsel to Espada.
He said Golisano will also be financially supporting senators who backed the coup.
Republicans believe that upstate Senate Democrats will not, with an election in 2010, be able to so easily side with downstate Democrats on issues such as fiscal matters.
If true, Republicans believe that they will still have influence in a 32-30 chamber.
Democrats were not as much rejoicing as they were sighing that the crisis had ended. “This is a good day for the State of New York,” said Sen. Malcolm A. Smith, a Queens Democrat, who will return as Senate president—a job he said he never relinquished.
Espada and another Democrat, Sen. Hiram Monserrate of Queens, joined 30 Republicans in the coup that caught Democrats by surprise. Monserrate then flipped back, creating a 31-31 stalemate.
“I think he just felt it was time to go home,” Skelos said of Espada.
While Espada takes a lesser title than he had with the Republicans, it is far better than he had previously — chairman of the Housing Committee—with the Democrats. Officials could not immediately say what his stipend will be as majority leader on top of his $79,500 base salary, though one source said it could be as high as an additional $34,000 annually. Espada has taken a public beating, though.
In the last month, he has taken hits from Democrats for what they said was his attempt to steer $2 million in pork-barrel funding to groups tied to health care centers he runs in the Bronx. He is under investigation by the Bronx district attorney over questions of whether he legally lives in the Bronx or Westchester County. He has run afoul of state election laws and been fined tens of thousands of dollars, and the health care agency he founded and operates has had regular tax-delinquency problems.
Monserrate, meanwhile, has been indicted for allegedly slashing the face of his girlfriend with a broken glass.
Asked how it felt with Espada back, another Democrat, Sen. William T. Stachowski of Lake View, said, “He’s not the president, so OK.”
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