The Days Are Numbered For Espada And Monserrate

The large amount of pressing legislation for the Senate to consider this month had enough trouble to contend with at the beginning of the day yesterday. Once the day was out, most of those and bills, and the Democratic agenda was thrown out the window.

I was busy with getting ready for the petitioning process here in NYC during the mid-afternoon hours yesterday and intermittently checked the news. When I clicked the refresh button to read about the coup in the Senate, (or possibly the attempted coup) I felt as shocked and disgusted as I did when Spitzer's prostitution scandal went public, if not more so. What Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada concocted to stab our democratic institution in the back was far worse than what any hooker could ever do. Seeing those self-serving disgraces masquerading as public servants flipping to the Republican side was absolutely horrific.

I'm mad as hell, but now, as Roatti said, we'll get even with the two crooks and the Republican leadership for this ridiculous and unethical action. Espada can claim that he has a "coalition government," but anyone with with a few working synapses in their brains can tell what this is about. Monserrate and Espada, especially Espada wanted power in the worst way and they screwed over New Yorkers that voted for change in last year's election. All the reforms that could have been are over with for now. Instead, we who are interested in true change for Albany must work to rid ourselves of Espada and Monserrate. It is likely that all we'll need is to find a replacement for Monserrate, certainly if that videotape the police claim they have will convict him of beating his girlfriend.

So now the thief and the thug have their moment in the sun, but as most turncoats do not last long once they've flipped, those two will be gone before long.

Speaking of gone, and looking for a silver lining in all of this (trust me, it's hard) I can't help but think that Malcolm Smith will never get his Majority Leader spot once the Democrats take back control in 2010. If Smith had any principles, he would have held the high ground against the Gang of Four at the end of 2008 and made the "amigos" play their hand then. Espada, Monserrate, Kruger and Diaz were not to be trusted then, there was no reason to believe that they'd act like Democratic senators on a mere handshake.