Albany chaos continues as Governor
threatens to withhold pay for Senators

BY PETE DAVIS

Monday, June 29, 2009 6:44 PM EDT

After another day of grappling over who has control of the Senate and failing to get any legislative work accomplished, Governor David Paterson told Senate leaders of both parties to agree to attend a special session on Thursday, June 25, or else he will seek a court order compelling them to do so.

“Senators get to work tomorrow,” Paterson said on Wednesday evening, June 24. “You are not going home. You are not getting paid, and you are not going to disrespect the people of the state of New York any longer.”

On Wednesday, June 24, – the second special session called by Paterson after a chaotic and circus-like atmosphere took over the Senate Chamber the prior day – Republicans did not attend the session and Democrats only held a brief 10-minute meeting where they challenged the legality of the bills Paterson presented.

“If we are taking up legislation, we need the Assembly here as well,” said Bronx Democratic Senator Jeff Klein, who spoke during the brief session Wednesday afternoon.

Paterson may have to call Assembly back into session to revote on legislation it passed before it concluded its legislative business late Monday night, June 22.

Meanwhile, hours before the session, the Republicans and Senator Pedro Espada Jr. asked the Democrats to engage in binding arbitration – with one representative from each party and a third person chosen by the two representatives to determine whether the June 8 vote electing Republican Dean Skelos Majority Leader and Espada President of the Senate was valid. Under the Republican proposal, a final decision might not happen for another two weeks.

On Tuesday, June 23, Republican and Democratic Senate leaders began holding simultaneous, independent sessions in the same chamber, which included shouting matches and a wild scene the likes Albany had never seen.

The initial chaos in Albany erupted on Monday, June 8, when Espada and Queens Democrat Senator Hiram Monserrate voted with the Republicans in favor of a new coalition government – flipping the Senate Majority from 32-30 Democrats to 32-30 Republicans. However, a week later Monserrate flipped back to supporting the Democrats, creating a 31 to 31 tie and creating a stalemate that has continued through today.

While the Senate has not gotten anything done legislatively for two weeks, the State Assembly worked late into the night on Monday June 22 and acted on 202 bills. This included passing legislation to protect schools from penalties for lost days due to the H1N1 virus, ban artificial trans fats and require calorie posting and protecting consumers from unsolicited telemarketing sales calls and enforce the Do-Not-Call law.

The Assembly has also passed bills in favor of mayoral control of schools and legislation that would allow New York City to increase its sales tax by .5 percent – something that the Senate has not acted on – which is critical for the city’s budget that was finalized last week.

Photo courtesy of The New York Daily News
Governor David Paterson told lawmakers to show up for a special session Thursday, June 25, and he threatened to withold the Senators' pay.