Smith Leaves Fellow Dems To Fend For Themselves At Presser

Malcolm Smith is taking a lot of heat lately since the returns came in on election day. The way he treated the four, then ultimately three renegades in the Democratic caucus was atrocious. The "deal" that was supposedly made, giving Diaz and especially Kruger and Espada incredible mantles of power at the expense of others in the caucus that were waiting for plum seats, in particular the Senators that worked the hardest to obtain the majority in the first place. Confusion has been the operative word since that deal was struck and on Monday morning, chaos ensued and Smith bolted from his first of two press conferences.

From The Daily Politics:

Things started off badly when reporters were asked to sign in before the event started. Several flat out refused, noting that one of Smith's press aides, Marc Gronich, is a former LCA member and well-aware of his ex-colleagues' respective identities.

It all went downhill from there.

After announcing four committee assignments, Smith said he had another matter to attend to and departed without taking questions. As he walked off, reporters shouted questions at him. He answered just one, saying the support for his leadership is "solid."

Solid like Jello, right Smith?

Smith's departure left new Deputy Majority Leader William Stachowski and Insurance Committee Chairman Neil Breslin to face the irritated press corps all alone.

But questions about the uncertainty surrounding the Democratic coaltion were quickly and frequently cut off by Smith's press officers, who insisted reporters' queries should only focus on the committee assignments announced, but then cut those off, too.

Breslin quietly ducked out, leaving Stachowski to fend for himself.

If this is how the leadership is going to act in the new majority caucus, we are in for a wild ride. Of course, if the Gang of Three bolt and make their traitorous way over to Skelos and Company, we might just forget about a majority for another forty two years.

NY Repubs Try To Trick Upstaters To Vote Obama And State Senate GOP

The Republican Party in New York aren't stupid, but they certainly think some upstate voters are dumb. In the hotly contested seat previously held by Republican Mary Lou Rath, the robocalls are getting very deceptive. The GOP knows New York is going a deep, dark blue for Obama, but State Senate races are a little murkier thanks to less media coverage. So what does the tricksters at the GOP do?

From The NY Daily News:

A Buffalo reader wrote in to say that residents in upstate SDs where there are competitive races are reporting receiving robocalls that urge them to vote for Barack Obama for president and also for the Republican candidate for Senate.

No recordings yet (send them if you've got 'em, please). But the script in the 61st SD, where Democrat "Baby" Joe Mesi is fighting Republican Michael Razenhofer for the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Mary Lou Rath is as follows:

"Tomorrow's election is critical for our future, I'm calling to ask you to go out and vote for Obama for president and Ranzenhofer for state Senate."

Similar calls were reported in the 58th SD, where Republican Dennis Delano is trying to oust Democratic Sen. Bill Stachowski.

So much for party loyalty with McCain, to the state GOP, it is all about holding on to the power they still have. Of course, they can't really do that with their record on the issues in the state, so they have to resort to a vain attempt that tries to fool Obama supporters into voting Republican.

How pathetic!