Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Romans 12:19
So begins Tolstoy's great novel of love, adultery and betrayal in Czarist Russia, Anna Karenina.
And so also begins the special election to fill ex-Senator Hiram Monserrate's vacant seat in the borough of Queens.
At bat are disgraced ex-Senator Monserrate, Democrat José Peralta, and Democrat Helen Sears, a former member of the City Council who lost a bitter primary in 2009 against openly gay teacher Danny Dromm. The primary was bitter in part because of accusations leveled at Dromm that he had been arrested as a teenager on charges of prostitution. Ms. Sears blamed her loss on the Queens County Dems, continuing that long political tradition where everything that goes wrong is someone else's fault.
Now that's all very well and good and, perhaps, just ancient history from the convoluted, unappetizing politics of the outer boroughs. Except it's not. The Queens GOP just unanimously awarded their ballot line to Ms. Sears, who if elected will get vengeance on Queens Democrats by caucusing with the republicans in the Senate. And in a three-way race, as Congresswoman Dede Scozzafava might tell you, a split vote can work wonders.
Presto, an even 31-31 split, and your government, dear New Yorkers, will move from mere dysfunction to outright paralysis. Let the games begin.
[Update]: And it's over. Via Liz, Sears has declined the GOP line. So that's that. Now it's Hiram versus Peralta, given that the GOP won't be able to fill their ballot line. |
