| Contrary to previous reports, it looks like Sen. Malcolm Smith will avoid a coup attempt, at least for now.
Liz is reporting that following a long meeting today, the New York State Senate Democrats will be behind Sen. Smith and support him for majority leader come January. In fact, Smith seems very confident that he will be in that role and have 32 members in his corner January 1.
Following a roughly two-hour meeting in which about two dozen of the 32 Senate Democrats participated, Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith emerged from 250 Broadway and confidently declared to reporters:
"I want to be real clear about the fact that despite the rumors, the members (are) very united, and we're going to move forward with the majority come January. We will have 32 come January."
When pressed by NY1's Josh Robin about how he plans to get to the magic 32 votes necessary to be elected majority leader (and maybe also temporary president of the Senate) on Jan. 7, Smith replied:
"We have 32. We've got 29 members now, we'll have 32 by January."
What that means exactly remains to be seen. Does that mean that a deal could be made (again) with the "Gang of Three"? Or does it mean that a few Republicans might join in supporting Sen. Smith?
It's tough to say because members of the "Gang of Three" seemed to indicate that they had suspended their support of Sen. Smith because of the deal that was, according to the three "Gang" members, reneged upon by Smith.
What appears to be clear is that there won't be a coup attempt, at least for now. Smith will have the support of the caucus he has at this point, which totals 29 members, including himself. He needs three more. Where he gets those three will be fun to watch over the next few weeks.
Let me also add that the Senate Democrats should make up their minds. Rumors like the ones today about a coup attempt do not help the cause, no matter who started them or originated from. The Senate Democrats should decide now whether they want Malcolm Smith as the leader (it seems they did that today) and what kinds of deals they are willing to make to ensure that come January 1, they are sitting in the majority.
This is too important to screw up. I would like to see a Democratic senate in January. I do not, however, want to see a Democratic senate that reached that point by caving to three pseudo-Democrats who voted for Smith because he gave them some goodies. That's not how this majority should be achieved. We need to stay true to our principles. |
