Espada And GOP Could Care Less About Power-Sharing Or The Judge's Ruling

Yesterday after the failed meeting between Senate leaders on both sides, Republicans (including Espada) proclaimed they were the leaders based on last week's vote and that compromising with the Democratic caucus wasn't going to happen without Judge McNamara's adjudication this morning. Well 10 a.m. came and went, and the judge delayed his decision again in the name of progress between the two camps. I wonder if he thought that about the latest development from Espada, Skelos et al.

From The Daily Politics:

This doesn't necessarily bode well: Sens. Dean Skelos and Pedro Espada Jr. just announced they have scheduled a session for 3 p.m. with 62 bills on the active list, many of which are "critically important" to counties and cities across the state.

A brief review of the list finds it includes bills sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans, including this little number:

- S4071: Provides for the sanitization of every used mattress or bedding material transported, stored or sold in the state.

Guess who the sponsor is? Sen. Hiram Monserrate.

First though, McNamara is reconvening the court at 1p.m. so we will get to hear his reaction to Espada's idea of compromise. Strong-arm politics is a more apt name for this game and hopefully the judge does not look too kindly on that after he instructed both sides to work together, not over each other. McNamara should heed the warning of Charles Barron, who calls out the hustlers who are putting themselves in charge of this gigantic mess.

Espada And Senate GOP Refuse Compromise

So much for working together. Yesterday, after Judge McNamara told both sides of the Senate to go work out their differences, Skelos and Espada left the meeting after an hour. Smith followed newly chosen Conference Leader John Sampson into the negotiating room to come up with some way to share power, but they were rebuffed.

From The Times-Union:

During the meeting, Senate Democrats proposed a power-sharing plan that would rotate the position of president pro tempore between two the parties on a daily basis, with that person running the Senate with a floor leader from the opposition party. A bipartisan committee of six senators, three from each party, would set the session agenda.

Espada and Skelos emerged after less than an hour to essentially throw the future of negotiations back into state Supreme Court, saying no progress could be made until the question of the coup's legitimacy had been resolved.

"We have decided that we need the judicial decision from Judge McNamara," Espada said.

"Our position is that it's 32-30," said Skelos. "That was the vote. So as many times as you want to say it didn't occur, it occurred." The Democrats, he added, "are getting paid and they aren't showing up for work."

While Skelos can say what he wants to the press about 32-30, the reality of the situation is that Monserrate flipped back to the Democrats. The dog has left the coalition and if Skelos tries to do anything with this stubborn attitude, he's always going to end up with one senator short of a quorum. So instead Espada and the Republicans will go before the judge this morning and await his decision. Hopefully McNamara will assess the situation and rule to reflect the reality of what is going on, not what Skelos wishes for.