| Well, I went to bed discouraged about the NYS Senate, and woke up to slightly better news. I am not finding a better results page than the NY Times, which does not give a lot of detail. Not a lot of detail is needed, however, to tell that what we have is a very closely divided house, whichever way the chips (as in, absentee ballots and last few precincts) fall.
Of course, I am with Jay Jacobs hoping that we narrowly hold onto our majority. But, I also see the danger in that. Whichever party ends up holding the narrowest of majorities in the NYS Senate is going to be vulnerable to the kind of foot-stomping tantrums by individual legislators that plagued the body in recent times. With any luck, it will NOT be as bad and blatant as Espada the embarrassment. But, you may recall that Thompson-- apparently aware that he had an eroding base back home-- almost stamped his feet into privatizing our SUNY system and putting it in the business of real estate speculation. Which I am sure would have had no capacity for corruption or anything....
Now is the time for Democratic reformers to INSIST on a new kind of party discipline. Not the kind that ensures that, say, the Aqueduct video gambling franchise goes to Floyd Flake's buddies. Rather, the kind that upholds the sanctity of small-d democracy, and requires the conference to negotiate for the good of ALL NYS.
Yes, as a matter of fact, I am an idealist. It is ideals, and discipline, that will keep NYS Democrats strong. |
