March 20, 2010 · www.gothamgazette.com

Gotham Gazette

Gotham Gazette: Social Networking Print Story

Share Story


Thursday Looks Grim (Update)
September 8th, 2009

Liz Benjamin is reporting that Senate Democrats will be down one vote when they return to Albany for session on Thursday.

Benjamin reports that Sen. Brian Foley will not attend session as his father recently passed away — meaning that Democrats won’t be able to pass legislation without the help of the Republican Minority.

Democrats have painted Thursday’s agenda as fairly non-controversial but at least some of the legislation and nominations are controversial to Republicans, including the confirmation of Jay Walder to head the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Democrats and Republicans both say that the agenda for Thursday has been a work in progress and no one is sure what the final agenda may be.

But as Benjamin points out there has been talk that Democrats are concerned that Sen. Hiram Monserrate’s trial for assaulting his girlfriend, which starts on the 14th, may lead to the Democrats being down one vote for more than just a day. Some say Democrats are moving to get as much done as possible before Monserrate goes to trial.  But not much may happen without all 32 Democrats in the chamber.

Rick Karlin of the Albany Times Union reported this morning that the session will be a test for the new, three-headed Democratic leadership.

Recent conversations with Democratic senators revealed that festering tension over Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr., and his new position as majority leader has not abated. One senator noted that the summer absence has stopped the “pot from boiling over.” But another senator said that the “daily drip” of negative press around Espada still has a number of Democrats angry and disgusted.

Some Democrats say that Espada and his representatives have responded to negative press faster than they have before, but they insist Espada needs to learn how to “behave himself” rather than reacting when he gets caught.

The controversy surrounding Espada and the hiring of his son as a Senate staffer may have spurred Senate leaders to move on an ethics reform package that passed the Assembly earlier this year.

The package would create three new watchdog groups to oversee lobbying, the legislature and the executive. But the Senate may go a few steps further, as a new chapter amendment was negotiated last week that would tweak the Assembly bill. The package is expected to come to a vote on Thursday.

The amendment would allow the legislative oversight body to randomly review legislators’ financial disclosure forms and would create a campaign finance enforcement unit at the Board of Elections. It is not clear what the fate of the ethics legislation will be in light of Foley’s absence but both Democrats and Republicans have been pushing for reform.

After all, isn’t the need for ethics reform what started the coup mess in the first place?

Update: Austin Shafran, spokesperson for the Senate Majority, said that the vote on the ethics package will not be delayed in light of Foley’s absence. “Ethics is not a partisan issue.” he said.

By David King on September 8, 2009, 12:58 pm
In category: Albany, Eye on Albany | No Comments »

| More

RSS Feed RSS Feed


Leave a Reply


RSS Feed