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Remember, all of 8 days ago, when the plotters were all puffy chested about a more equitable Senate? Remember when they were hailing their revolt as a victory for "bipartisanship"? Me too.
The "coup" plotters tried to tell everyone last week that their sham revolt was about "reform" and opening up the Senate. Most people paying any attention knew they were full of shit the minute they opened their mouths. But now everyone knows it to be true. Why? Because, as we now have a 31 all tie, everyone knows that there is going to have to be some sort of power sharing arrangement. The Senate will have to be more open under any such scenario.
Yesterday, in a closed door meeting between many of the principals, the Dems offered what looks to be a pretty good deal, one that the remnants of the "reform coalition" rejected out of hand.
During negotiations, Senate Democrats proposed a power-sharing plan to Senate Republicans that would include the following provisions:
1. On session days, rotate the position of temporary president between two the parties on a daily basis.
2. The floor leader from the opposition party would be preside with opposing temporary president "to provide better balance."
3. A bipartisan committee of 6 senators, three from each party, to set the session agenda.
When asked about the terms of the proposal, a Senate Republican spokesman said that the discussion didn't go as far as a formal proposal, so it really wasn't something on the table to accept or reject.
Senators in attendance:
Democrats: Sens. Malcolm A. Smith, John Sampson, Jeff Klein and Carl Kruger.
Coalition: Sens. Dean Skelos, Tom Libous, John DeFrancisco and Democratic Sen. Pedro Espada.
Sounds awfully damn "equitable" and "bipartisan" to me. It would also have let the Senate get back to doing the work we pay them to do. But such an agreement would not do for the plotters for one simple reason. All that talk about "reform" was straight up bullshit. These guys and their new pet, the ethically challenged moral pygmy, Pedro Espada, now arguably the highest ranking Republican in the entire state, never had any interest in any of that stuff. The GOP wanted their cushy offices back and to be able to turn on the patronage spigot once again. Tommy Golisano wanted to show he world that no one could check their blackberry whilst he pontificated about something or other. They both needed someone who could be bought off relatively cheap. Pedro and his pal fit the bill perfectly. They had to know that Pedro was a two bit punk and opportunist who had been rebuffed by the Dems when he tried to funnel $2 million bucks to sham non profits he's created just days previously, something he has quite the rep for.
So they decided to make him second in line to the Governor and gave him some laughable talking points about reform. It looked like this, an image that we as a state will carry with us in shame for a long long time:
But then they had a problem. Their little coup fell apart. Hiram got a serious case of buyer's remorse and backed away from this little cabal of suckitude. That leaves the Senate all knotted up at 31 votes apiece. Neither side can do a damned thing without at least some cooperation from the other. They can't even gavel in a session without someone from the other side playing along.
This would seem to mean that there needs to be some sort of power sharing agreement, no? The Dems offered one. The GOP decided to let the rest of the world know that all their talk of "reform" was utter tripe by rejecting it out of hand and by then returning to the very court they had asked to dismiss the case and begged for "judicial intervention." Why? Because they have no interest in getting back to the people's business under any arrangement that doesn't leave them in complete control.
It was always transparently ridiculous that the very people who fought against any reform at all for 40 years had had a sudden change of heart and did so while adopting and elevating probably the single most ethically challenged person in the entire chamber. Did anyone really believe any of this stuff? It was always about power, perks and greed.
They proved as much last night. |
