Resignation could affect Senate as well

With Eliot Spitzer’s resignation as governor, one area that the scandal could affect is the State Senate.
“It becomes interesting when one of the goals of the Senate Minority was to flip one of the [Republican] senators,” said Republican State Senator Serphin Maltese.
Currently, the Republicans hold a slim 32-30 lead in the Senate, but if one of the Republicans switched sides to even the Senate at 31-31, Lieutenant Governor David Paterson would have held the tiebreaking vote - giving the advantage to the Democrats.
However, when Paterson takes over as governor on Monday, Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno would assume the responsibilities of the lieutenant governor thus eliminating the tiebreaking vote Paterson would hold. In addition, if Governor Paterson were to leave the state, Bruno, who would continue to perform his duties as majority leader, would assume control.
“It [the Spitzer scandal] has amazingly improved the Republican Majority’s chances of retaining control this session and going into the November elections with an obvious advantage,” said Maltese, whose Senate seat Democrats are currently targeting for 2008.
Queens State Senator Malcolm Smith, who is the current Democratic Minority Leader in the Senate, has talked frequently since Spitzer took office about the likelihood of the Democrats regaining control of the Senate - something they have not had in more than 40 years.
A spokesperson for Smith said he released a statement on Monday night, March 10 saying that the Spitzer revelations made for a difficult day for all New Yorkers while extending his prayers to the Spitzer family, but he did not know when Smith would make another comment.
Meanwhile, Queens Assemblymember Jose Peralta, said he was concerned about the negative effects the Spitzer scandal could have on the Democrats ability to retake the majority this year.
“It seemed almost inevitable that it [would] happen this year and now that has eroded,” said Assemblymember Jose Peralta, who later added, “Eliot Spitzer has just become the Republican poster child.”