Originally Posted By Darkbeer The Republicans got a couple of Democrats to join them and now have a majority of the New York Senate... So what do the Democrats do? Turn off the lights, pull the Public broadcast (Internet feed) and lock the doors... <a href="http://wcbstv.com/politics/albany.shakeup.senate.2.1037926.html" target="_blank">http://wcbstv.com/politics/alb...926.html</a> Hey, things change, and currently the Republicans have the votes.... Sorry you don't like it, but behave as Adults, not like spoiled bratty kids!
Originally Posted By dshyates WOW 2 firsts. 1. A Darkbeer post I agree with. 2. A Darkbeer post with the posters opinion and not just full of "copy/paste" intellectualism. The Dems need to get over the loss and move on to do the business of the state. I am sure the Dems wouldn't have a problem with either of the rogue Dems if they had voted WITH their party.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Well, to be fair, there's a little more to this than just Democrats acting bratty (though there's that too). The two Democrats who defected are both in legal trouble. The first is under indictment for domestic violence (allegedly slashing his girlfriend's face with broken glass - a real sweetheart); the second is under investigation for multiple counts of campaign finance violations. For this, both ran afoul of the Dem. majority leader, Malcolm Smith. Smith took the unusual action (and if you know Albany politics, VERY unusual action) of publicly criticizing members of his own party. He was said to be looking into appropriate primary challengers for both districts, to get these guys out. And now it's payback time. Republicans - aided by upstate billionaire Tom Golisano (think Ross Perot without the charm) - engineered a deal in which if these two defected they would get PROMOTIONS - Espada, the campaign violations guy, instead of facing a primary fight with Smith almost certainly supporting his opponent gets promoted to president of the Senate (!). The subsequent actions may have been "bratty" but there was some pretty dirty politics going on to produce this situation (and new GOP majority) in the first place.
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Originally Posted By Mr X Dude... Wow... barboy says what everyone else is loathe to say (for very good reasons!).
Originally Posted By Darkbeer I like this quote from the NY Times.... <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/nyregion/10about.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06...out.html</a> >>Until Monday, the president pro tempore of the Senate was the Democratic majority leader, Malcolm A. Smith. Last month, he declared that Mr. Espada had one week to take care of his campaign finance reports with the state. Both men proceeded to do nothing. Now Mr. Smith says the Republican coup that took away his job was “illegal and unlawful.” How come? Apparently, it was unfair of the Republicans to buy two senators whom the Democrats had already paid for, fair and square. And the Democrats tried to stop the uprising by turning off the cameras in the Senate chamber, apparently not having heard that the revolution will not be televised.<<
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Also from that link, which DB (surprise!) didn't post: 'Mr. Espada and another state senator, Hiram Monserrate — who, perhaps it goes without saying, is under indictment in a domestic violence case — changed the power balance in the State Senate on Monday by jumping from the Democratic side to the Republican. “Today will be remembered in state history as a day when real change and real reform began and dysfunction ended,” said Senator Dean G. Skelos, a Republican from Long Island who became the majority leader, thanks to the shifts by Mr. Espada and Mr. Monserrate. Really, he said that. Previously, the Democrats had bought the support of Mr. Espada and Mr. Monserrate with committee chairmanships and various promises of pork. In March, Mr. Espada and his allies set up two corporations for which he demanded $2 million in member items (member items = Albany euphemism for pork). The Democrats wouldn’t give the money to those corporations. Now Mr. Espada has made friends with the Republicans, and has given them back the majority in the Senate. They, in turn, have made him president pro tempore and, quite possibly, have agreed to other stuff that no one knows about yet, since this new galaxy of “real change and reform” is only now being created." And if you go to the link embedded in THAT, you get: "State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. requested more than $2 million dollars in Senate earmarks this year for two groups with links to the health care organization that he founded and which appeared to have been created in part to receive such grants, according to several Democratic officials and aides with knowledge of the requests. But Senate Democrats rejected the grant requests in early April because they could not confirm that the groups were legitimate nonprofit organizations. Around the same time, Mr. Espada began discussions with Senate Republicans to leave the Democratic caucus, ending with the Republicans’ surprise takeover of the Senate on Monday. " Hmmmm... Senate Democrats reject his request for pork and he runs to the Republicans, who get him to defect. Yeah, a shining moment for the GOP.
Originally Posted By ecdc I don't understand why Darkbeer would leave out such crucial information about what happened. I mean, it must be a mistake, right?
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder I stayed out of this one on purpose, expecting that this would turn into a typical DB thread anyway. And zounds! I was right.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt ^^Me too. I even did some research on the story last night and discovered the same dirt that others have posted here. Everyone in this story seems to be behaving badly, not just the Dems.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer It is getting even stranger... <a href="http://wcbstv.com/politics/espada.senate.albany.2.1056280.html" target="_blank">http://wcbstv.com/politics/esp...280.html</a> >>What happened next was equally incredible. With the Democrats in their seats, the Republicans marched in and tried to take the podium. They were rebuffed, so they held a session form the well of the chamber and passed dozens of bills by acclamation. The odd thing was when Republican senators start the session with the pledge of allegiance. The Democrats didn't stand to participate and when one tried to stand, he was pulled down. After the Republicans gaveled out, the Democrats gaveled in their special session. The problem was Sen. Smith said they couldn't proceed because they didn't have the governor's bills The big question is when or if they'll ever be able to pass anything. "At this time, no one in this chamber is holding the governor's business back, other than the governor's office not having the material needed on time," Smith said. Paterson was furious. His aides said the bills were sent to the Senate chamber at 1 p.m. "I've been a public servant for over 20 years and what I've seen in the last two weeks in the Senate disgusts me. Their inaction is a dereliction of duty. I pledge as governor there will be no more tolerance of these delays and these distractions." Paterson said this week that he would call special legislative sessions every day, including on weekends and holidays, until the two sides could come to an agreement. Senators would have to attend such sessions, but they would not have to vote on any bills. Who would preside over the sessions remains unclear. Paterson has lashed out at senators for the ongoing soap opera. It's been two weeks since the state Senate accomplished anything and the governor said enough is enough. But his mandate seemed to make little impact considering Tuesday's madness. <<
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Albany has been dysfunctional for a long time, but at least when they knew which party was in charge of each chamber, things got done (ultimately). Now it isn't clear - one of the defecting Democrats has essentially "defected back" (at least some days), which means a 31-31 split, and both parties claiming majority status. It's a giant food fight.
Originally Posted By EdisYoda <<Albany has been dysfunctional for a long time, but at least when they knew which party was in charge of each chamber, things got done (ultimately). Now it isn't clear - one of the defecting Democrats has essentially "defected back" (at least some days), which means a 31-31 split, and both parties claiming majority status. It's a giant food fight.>> Now this is a wonderful argument for doing away with a 2 party system. Now, before you start screaming that I want a single party, no, that's not what I mean. I think there should be either a ZERO party system or a multiple (more then 2) party system.
