New York State Governor David Paterson is urging the Senate to unlock its chambers and have another vote to settle who the majority party is — as well as its leadership — so that legislators can get back to governing.
“This is outrageous,” Paterson said during a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, June 10. “This is as unbelievable as anything I have ever seen.”
Paterson said he would not have police or security officials reopen the chambers, but he strongly urged the Senators to return immediately.
“This is getting a little ridiculous,” Paterson said. “They have to act like adults here and address this issue.”
In a move that sent shockwaves throughout New York State on Monday, June 8, the Republicans appeared to have retaken control from the Democrats after only five months of Democratic rule. That afternoon, Democratic State Senators Hiram Monserrate from Queens and Pedro Espada Jr. from the Bronx announced that they would caucus with the Republicans, reversing the Democrats 32-30 majority and seemingly returning control to the Republicans.
Under the agreement, which many pundits are terming a coup, Long Island Republican Senator Dean Skelos would retake the Senate Majority Leader position while Espada Jr. would become the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. Queens Democratic State Senator Malcolm Smith, who had held the post of Majority Leader since January, originally said that the move was illegal because the session had already adjourned, but remained quiet on the issue the following day.
For his part, Monserrate said he remains a Democrat, but he believes that this reform takes the necessary steps towards real change – something he did not see happening under the previous leadership.
“I ask the residents of New York to remember that change does not bear a party label,” Monserrate said in a statement on Tuesday. “Rather, its hallmark is providing the leadership necessary to do something different, something necessary.”
The move had apparently been in the works for months, with reports indicating that billionaire Republican Tom Golisano played a significant role in brokering the deal.
Reaction in Queens – a predominantly Democratic stronghold – was mixed and largely along party lines.
“This act here is not reform at all, this is a disruption of government really,” said Democratic Queens State Senator Joseph Addabbo, who, like Monserrate, is a first-term Senator representing the borough.
Meanwhile, Republican Queens State Senator Frank Padavan – who is the only remaining Senator from the borough – said that the move was a culmination of almost six months of frustration and failure on the part of Smith and his colleagues.
“The other issue is that reforms that had been committed to at the beginning of the year were not done,” Padavan said in an interview with The Queens Courier on Tuesday, June 9. “As a matter of fact, they went in reverse.”
Padavan spoke about the reforms that the Republicans passed immediately after retaking control of the Majority on Monday, including limiting the term for the Majority Leader to six years and capping a Committee Chair’s term at eight years, among other actions.
“Within a matter of minutes, we passed those reforms; we adopted them,” Padavan said.
However, Addabbo said that he believes that the Senate had already adjourned when the Republicans took their actions.
“We have nine days left to do a lot of good legislative work that came to a screeching halt yesterday due to power and money,” Addabbo said.
Meanwhile, the chaos and uncertainty in Albany casts a cloud over the city’s budget – with issues like Mayor Control of public schools and approving a sales tax still on the agenda.
