Stachowski denied major Senate chair
Deal for political peace gives post to downstate lawmaker
ALBANY — Political peace in the State Senate cost upstate a major seat at Albany’s power table Thursday.
Sen. William T. Stachowski, D-Lake View, was passed over in his bid for the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Finance Committee as Democrats prepare to take control of the chamber next month.
Stachowski — mentioned as the likely committee chairman during his tough re-election battle this fall — saw the position go to Sen. Carl Kruger, D-Brooklyn, further consolidating New York City’s hold on the Legislature and statewide government offices.
The decision came Thursday, as three renegade Democrats in the Senate ended a month of dealmaking by both parties and decided to back the current top Democrat in the Senate, Malcolm A. Smith of Queens, as the chamber’s next leader — though with significant erosion of powers he thought he was inheriting.
Part of the deal, according to participants, included jettisoning Stachowski’s bid to become chairman of the Finance Committee. During the height of the fall elections, Smith had said that Stachowski, now the ranking Democrat on the panel, had a “leg up on” the chairmanship if Democrats won control of the Senate.
Come January, Democrats will have a 32-30 edge over the GOP, which has dominated the Senate — except for one year — since 1939.
“Western New York got [robbed],” said one senator on condition of anonymity.
Stachowski said Thursday that no one has told him that he would not get the post. “Nobody’s given anyone anything,” he said.
On the prospect of Stachowski not getting the post, Erie County Democratic Chairman Leonard R. Lenihan said, “We hope that’s not the case, but I’ll withhold comment until we know.”
Thursday’s deals come at a time when Gov. David A. Paterson is wrestling about whom to select to succeed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been nominated to become secretary of state in the Obama administration.
Meeting Thursday in a private club in midtown Manhattan were Paterson, Smith and the holdout senators. Also on hand were Rochester billionaire and Buffalo Sabres owner B. Thomas Golisano and his adviser, former Erie County Democratic Chairman G. Steven Pigeon — both pushing for Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown to succeed Clinton.
Shortly after the conclusion of the meeting, one of the holdout senators — who is getting a influential job out of the deal — told The Buffalo News that he now supports an upstater getting the Clinton seat.
“I think upstate has given something and will get something much more powerful if I have anything to do with it,” said Sen.-elect Pedro Espada Jr., D-Bronx.
“I will urge that the next U. S. senator come from upstate,” Espada added, noting that all the major seats of power in the state are held by downstate Democrats.
At the very least, the outcome of the meeting will put pressure on Paterson to appoint an upstater to succeed Clinton. A Paterson spokesman would confirm only that the governor attended the meeting.
After Democrats won enough seats to take control of the State Senate, four downstate Democrats said they could not back Smith as leader.
Their ranks then dropped to three, prompting the nickname “Gang of Three” — Espada, Kruger and Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., D-Bronx. They raised various concerns and demands, even proposing an alliance with Republicans that would keep the GOP in control.
Smith had to share some influence with Espada. The titles of president pro tempore and majority leader, now held by one senator, will be split. Smith will become president pro tempore, and the majority leader title will go to Espada, who will also become vice chairman of the Senate Rules Committee — the post through which all legislation must go before reaching the floor for a vote.
Kruger’s receiving the finance post, with enhanced powers, was a key part of the deal Thursday, Espada said. Kruger did not return calls.
Also, several house rules are being advanced under the deal, including a fairer distribution of pork-barrel spending across party lines and alphabetical seating — as opposed to along party lines — in the chamber. The Senate finance and new majority leader’s offices also will get their own budgets, Espada said.
Thursday’s dealmaking was furious. Senate Republicans, desperate to hold onto power, proposed giving one of the Senate Democratic holdouts the chairmanship of the Finance Committee — along with $6 million in public funds to personally earmark.
Diaz said he is “very happy” with the outcome. The ordained minister said recently that he could not back Smith unless there were guarantees that the Senate would not pass a bill in favor of gay marriage — as Democrats had promised to some supporters during the fall campaign.
“I’m very confident that it will not happen,” Diaz said by telephone after the meeting.
Over the last month, the current Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, a Nassau County Republican, tried keep the three renegade Democrats on the fence — even traveling to Puerto Rico to make his pitch during a gathering of Latino lawmakers from New York.
By Thursday evening, however, seven decades of GOP domination of the Senate ended with a four-paragraph Skelos statement congratulating Smith.
Stachowski for several years has been the ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee. Late Thursday, he said he was unsure what was happening about the chairmanship.
“I have nothing to react to,” he said.
Referring to the Democrats who ended their holdout, Stachowski said, “I’m just glad everyone is in, and we’ll go from there.”
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