To veteran observers of New York State politics, the presence of Buffalo’s G. Steven Pigeon in the epicenter of last week’s Albany maelstrom proved no surprise at all.

Wherever chaos and turmoil reign, it seems, Pigeon is there.

During one of the most turbulent eras in the history of the Erie County Democratic Party, 1996 to 2002, Pigeon served as chairman.

When billionaire B. Thomas Golisano reconfigured state politics in 1994 by establishing the Independence Party and launching the first of three runs for governor, Pigeon was advising him.

And when Republican senators overwhelmed the new Democratic majority in the State Senate on Monday, Pigeon recruited the drama’s central characters.

“Maybe Steve Pigeon loves chaos,” observed Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, a new ally and another major player in the week’s Albany events.

At 48, Pigeon has proven a factor in New York politics for almost a quarter century. With admittedly no real interests outside his passion for politics, Pigeon has managed to insert — some say bully—himself into all kinds of inner sanctums even when he is out of power.

And though he has often found himself down and out in the politics business, even his fiercest critics point to his ability to successfully rebound again and again.

The West Seneca native and Underberg and Kessler attorney earned his most intense political spotlight yet last week by helping Golisano orchestrate the assault on Sen. Malcolm A. Smith of Queens, the majority leader.

After Golisano spent $4.4 million last fall, mostly on Democrats upon whom he counted to advance his “reform agenda,” the Buffalo Sabres owner grew disenchanted with the results. And since Golisano and Pigeon helped broker the late-2008 deal that made Smith majority leader, Pigeon said much more was expected. When Smith played with his BlackBerry while Golisano voiced his concerns several months ago, Pigeon said, Golisano was furious.

“What the BlackBerry thing symbolized was how little weight they gave us,” he said.

That sent Pigeon into action. As a former Senate counsel for 10 years, he knew many of the Democratic players. He helped recruit Democratic Sens. Hiram Monserrate of Queens and Pedro Espada of the Bronx to join with the GOP and form a new — if tenuous — majority that appears to have displaced Smith.

The dealmaker

Now he is generally viewed as the dealmaker who not only implemented Golisano’s vision but exacted his vengeance. Whether or not the new coalition government survives, most believe Pigeon has achieved a new status — even if propped up only by Golisano’s billions.

“Clearly, his association with Tom Golisano and Golisano’s sincere desire for change is one of the driving factors,” said Maziarz, another key plotter. “Steve was the catalyst.”

Some say Pigeon and Golisano risk being painted as losers should the coup eventually collapse. But if it does, Maziarz said, or even if Democrats regain the Senate majority in the 2010 election, changes adopted by the new majority will remain. More power for individual senators, term limits for committee chairmen, and ending the “three men in a room” method of state governance has garnered enough political backing to survive, he said.

“The circus is what got the attention, but the rules changes are historic,” Maziarz said. “I think the rules are in place forever.”

But Senate insiders say Pigeon also may have hurt the coup’s cause by allegedly making direct offers of plum committee chairmanships to Democratic senators if they joined the takeover. That may have backfired in New York’s upper legislative chamber, a club with just 62 members, one insider said.

And, his critics say, Pigeon didn’t have the authority to make the offers.

“Hey you, from Buffalo, who are you?” a source said of the response Pigeon’s entreaties were given.

Nevertheless, Pigeon predicts more Democrats will join the coup and it will succeed.

All of this stems from a wheeler-dealer who has immersed himself in politics since his teen years. Along the way he cemented close alliances with former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, controversial political strategist Roger Stone, and Mayor Byron W. Brown (who would not comment for this story).

He consults for political powers across the country and in Ukraine, has cozied up to the powerful Bronfman family of Montreal, and through Golisano controls the major upstate endorsements of the Independence Party — making him a true political kingpin. He even inserted himself into the Dalai Lama’s recent visit to Albany.

“He loves politics; he’s a political animal,” said Christopher

P. Walsh, a former West Seneca councilman and longtime Pigeon confidante. “It seems that every time he gets in a rub, everyone loves to pile on. And politics being what it is, he gets bruised.”

Indeed, Pigeon is absorbing his share of brickbats in the aftermath of the coup. Leonard R. Lenihan, his successor as Erie County Democratic chairman, said Pigeon’s latest adventure epitomizes his obsession with people of power and wealth.

He pointed out that Pigeon abandoned Democratic gubernatorial candidate H. Carl McCall in 2002 to help Golisano’s Independence bid. Later, he hooked up with a one-time bitter enemy—former Republican County Executive Joel A. Giambra — in efforts against Democrats.

Now he is an integral part of the Republican effort to retake the Senate, Lenihan pointed out, because of billionaire Golisano.

“It’s always bad when a billionaire tries to run the government,” Lenihan said. “He’s purchased the Independence Party and the State Senate. What will he try to buy next? It’s all very disturbing.”

Controversy continues on other fronts. Pigeon’s Responsible New York efforts for former Democratic Senate candidate Joe Mesi last year sparked a major confrontation with both the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Erie County Board of Elections. They accused him of laundering thousands of dollars from Golisano’s political committee to conceal the origin and circumvent contribution limits.

Pigeon and Golisano denied the charges.

Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, meanwhile, experienced the wrath of Golisano and Pigeon during last year’s Democratic primary. Pigeon orchestrated a $500,000 campaign financed by Golisano against Hoyt that proved one of the most vicious in local history. Hoyt prevailed.

“To anyone who knows politics in New York State or Erie County, Steve Pigeon’s association with the word ‘reform’ is laughable,” Hoyt said. “It’s all about power; it’s all about control. He’s an opportunist.”

For sure, Pigeon has a history of latching on to wealthy political types. He helped a then-unknown Anthony R. Nanula enter the State Senate in 1993, hooked on with Golisano in 1994, and introduced businessman Hormoz Mansouri to local politics in 2000.

“When I wanted to get involved I approached both sides of the aisle,” Mansouri said. “Bob Davis [former Erie County Republican chairman] never returned my calls. Steve did.”

Mansouri, who heads the EI Team engineering firm and who has emerged as a major political donor, said people like him value Pigeon’s insider knowledge.

“Knowing how the system works gives him that extra edge that others don’t have,” Mansouri said.

Still a Democrat

Pigeon denies his actions have hurt his Democratic Party. He remains true to Democratic principles, he said, but felt compelled to help instigate the coup.

“In the long run, I think I did the Democratic Party a favor because Malcolm Smith was leading it off a cliff,” he said. “This is a practical marriage of convenience that will save the Democratic Party in the long run.”

Pigeon said his view of the party’s future transcends its current leadership. He labels Gov. David A. Paterson a “train wreck . . . who can’t keep his word or make a decision.”

“The guy has only a nodding acquaintance with the truth,” he added.

Pigeon said his efforts to involve Golisano in New York City politics have paid off for upstate by the latest turn of events. He believes the coup has sparked a new sensitivity for an upstate region that he and Golisano say has long been ignored by the downstaters running Albany.

“We’re going to support the people who support reform,” he said.