Sampson the CEO
June 15th, 2009
Democrats have marked the first anniversary of the coup in Albany by announcing an anticipated change in leadership, David King reports from Albany. In an effort to hold on to the chamber, the party named Brooklyn Sen.
The latest machinations brought Sen. Hiram Monserrate (but not fellow renegade Pedro Espada Jr.) back into the Democratic fold. Assuming everyone else stays where he or she is, that means an evenly divided (31 to 31) Senate with no lieutenant governor to break the tie.
In light of that, Democrats said they hoped to meet with Republicans and their leader, Sen. Dean Skelos, to work out some kind of shared leadership. Sen. Neil Breslin told King the Senate might try to move on New York City issues, such as raising the city sales tax and mayoral control of schools, later this week.
Neither Sen. Darrel Aubertine or Sen. Kevin Parker were at the Democrats’ announcement this morning, but at this point there seems to be little significance to their absence. Although, given what’s gone on in the past week, who knows?
By Gail Robinson on June 15, 2009, 12:48 pmIn category: Albany, Eye on Albany | 6 Comments »

June 15th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
It seems to me as if Paterson is doing everything in his (albeit limited) powers to bring the two sides together, and the GOP and their Blue Dogs are not operating in good faith. The governor tried to end this stalemate with a meeting this afternoon, and was rebuffed. The resulting chaos should fall squarely on the shoulders of those who put us in this position in the first place.
June 16th, 2009 at 7:41 am
Aubertine is a tool
June 16th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Nothing will change. The same incompetents that were runing the show before will still be running the show afterward. Smith needed to go and the fact that he still has a position of power means failure.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I just read that it is up for debate whether Aubertine ever even graduated from high school! Are you kidding me? How can someone without a college degree and maybe not even a high school diploma hold a position in the State Senate??? Is that the example his district wants to send to their children, that education doesn’t matter? How embarrassing.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Darrel Aubertine is rumored to be making a run for Congress in the special election (McHugh’s spot). When is the voters in that district going to get their heads out of their asses and realize the guy is a moron and is making a fool out of them. I do not want Darrel Aubertine voting on auto company bailouts, banking reform, health care legislation or anything that requires a brain. The man is just not smart enough. Not even close.
June 21st, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Through crafty political maneuvering Aubertine managed to become chairman of the Jefferson County Board of Legislators even though the Board had a 12 to 3 republican majority. That takes a certain degree of political smarts. He understands on a personal level the issues effecting his district in a way that his more intellectual opponents David Renzi, William Barclay, and Scott Gray did not.
Don’t think education level is a sign of great smarts: George W Bush graduated from Harvard with an MBA while Bill Gates never finished college. (i’m not, however, saying aubertine is anywhere near as intelligent as Gates.) I’ld prefer someone with common sense and real world experience than another “genuis” like Greenspan and Geithner.