It is now the ninth day of Albany’s Time of Troubles and we’ve entered the game show phase.
Democrats have put forth a power-sharing agreement, while Republicans are insisting on the bigger share. If they do not decide who is in charge among themselves, a judge may decide it for them.
Democrats are saying “Let’s Make a Deal,” while Republican respond, “Monty, I’d rather see what’s behind door number three.”
The big surprise here is the unexpected willingness of the Democratic Conference, including Leader in Name Only Malcolm Smith, to behave like grown-ups. Looking back, historians may find this to be the one silver lining to this dark cloud reigning forth on our Capitol.
In fairness, in Smith’s case, this may be the only opportunity he has to hold on to even the appearance of power; if the Democrats are relegated to Minority status, their need to keep Smith as Leader in even name goes out the window [although they may have to give him, and every other member of their conference, something to keep them from joining the axis of evil].
But, as the democrats discovered, and should have discovered in December, there is a better way. I was reminded of this in one of my threads the other day, when a nameless blogger, probably with the intent of annoying me wrote as follows:
Gatey,
One of your arguments last fall was, I think, to keep Marty Connor because his parliamentary legerdemain (my fancy word, not yours) would be needed when the Republicans engaged in shenanigans. To paraphrase, WWMCHD (What Would Marty Connor Have Done) if he were the Majority Leader during yesterday's brouhaha? Like you, I see no way out: 32 beats 30, like 3 of a kind beats a pair. Any Rule of Order tricks available? Any other thoughts, or perhaps should Malcolm Smith sort of be like Boris Yeltsin and smply storm the TV station playing a video of his demise?
I responded something like this (although I’ve now cleaned it up a little):
I think it was MacBeth who said that to be thus is nothing unless one is safely thus.
I think that presented with a 32-30 majority dependent upon unreliable scoundrels, Connor would have sat down with Skelos early to work out an understanding about governance. I doubt he would have yielded too easily, if at all, on the question of committee chairs, but Connor had once served in a far different Senate when Warren Anderson was the Majority Leader–a Senate where a freshman Democrat was allowed to pass 19 bills his first session; a Senate where bills were allowed to come to the floor without a pre-ordained result and debates sometimes mattered.
Maybe with a large Majority, Connor would have played dictator, maybe not; but with a majority hanging by a few dirty threads, Connor was bound to be nostalgic for the days when the Senate was sometimes a deliberative body.
My guess is that Skelos would have been offered something resembling parity in resources and in budget allocations, as well as the opportunity to impact legislation. The increases to Connor’s own conference would have been such a great improvement that he probably could have sold them as the best possible under the circumstances. Being so impressed with his own rhetorical abilities, Connor would probably have relished the opportunity to participate in a session where his powers of persuasion actually mattered.
So the answer is, that the legerdemain would have been to avoid ever getting dealt the pair of deuces.
But, had he won in September, it is highly unlikely that Connor would have emerged as leader. The question remains, could he have sold this strategy to Malcolm as a member of the conference? I don't know. What I suspect though is that without Connor, such a strategy was not merely DOA–it didn't even arrive at all.
If only Madoff had gone belly-up two years before.
Folks, this isn’t rocket science. The Court can decide Pedro Espada is President Pro tempore, or it can decide that Malcolm Smith is. But, that will only decide which side has a leg up in either negotiating a power sharing agreement, or in facilitating further raids on enemy turf.
The Courts cannot end the madness. Only the leadership of both parties can end the madness. And they can do so only by acting as if thay act as if they believed that “leadership” is a public trust rather than just a title.
It’s been done before elsewhere. Take New Jersey, the home state of both Connor and Gatemouth. In January of 2002, a tie in the State Senate resulted in a detailed power sharing plan similar to the one now proposed by the NYS Senate Democrats. The details even covered division of a one week period as Acting Governor caused by a constitutional quirk (which resulted in Dick Codey’s first stint as Jersey’s Permanent Acting Governor).
It can and should be done here. This is the only possible resolution that will resolve the matter rather than prolong it. Otherwise, victory for whoever wins in Court will be an empty one; a payroll, but no ability to pass any legislation.
It will be all prize and no crackerjacks.
Of course, for many in Albany, that would suffice nicely.