From minorityreporter.net

This is a story that fits in with two themes we have been talking about a lot lately at the Lake: marriage equality for all people regardless of sexual orientation (aka the firestorm over Prop 8) and dirty smarmy backroom political deal (aka Blago).

However, this is not a depressing story of scandal. This is a story of a man choosing to give up a leadership post rather than submit to a backroom political deal that would deny marriage rights to all. And I’m proud to say, that story happened right here in New York.

For years, the Democratic party has been trying to re-take the NYS Senate. The NYS DSCC (formerly headed by David Paterson) raised money, found weak GOP incumbents, and recruited and supported candidates to run against them. When he left the Senate to become Lt. Gov., he prevailed upon his friend, the wonderful Liz Krueger, to take over for him.

And we made some gains. With the help of the New York Democratic Lawyer’s Council, which launched a massive voter protection/election integrity effort, Andrea Stewart Cousins was finally elected in Westchester, with hundreds of lawyers in the field. A few months later, with hundreds of lawyers out there again, Dems won a special election and sent Craig Johnson to the NYS Senate.

This last Election Day, under NYS DSCC leader Malcolm Smith, we finally elected a majority of Dems to the NYS Senate! Yippee! So, Malcolm Smith had every reason to believe that he would become Senate Majority leader.

Not so fast, three renegades–no doubt inspired by blackmailer-in-chief Joe Lieberman–decided that they "had something golden here" and they were not going to give it away for free. They demanded all sorts of committee appointments and even wanted Smith to divide the job of Majority Leader and "President Pro Tem" of the Senate into two jobs and give the PPT job to one of them, possibly making that person next in line to be Gov?

He caved in to all of it, until Rubin Diaz decided to hijack civil rights. Diaz wanted a promise that Smith would not allow gay rights legislation onto the Senate floor. Smith’s answer?

Smith said he has the support of the Democratic Caucus and has ceased negotiations with the three, Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. and Sen.-elect Pedro Espada Jr., both of the Bronx, and Sen. Carl Kruger of Brooklyn. Their support would give the party a 32-30 majority beginning Jan. 1 after decades of Republican control.

Smith acknowledged that this means he won’t be Majority Leader this year.

"We’re prepared to wait if we have to, to come into the majority," Smith said. He was flanked by senators Neil Breslin of Albany and Liz Krueger of Manhattan when he made the announcement.

Smith said the three renegades were motivated by "personal interests." He also said he wouldn’t subject civil rights issues to negotiation, referring to a proposal backed by many Democrats to legalize gay marriage.

Smith is normally known as a pragmatic politician, but he is taking a principled stand here and I think he deserves credit for it. So, Senator Smith, bravo!

Today we received the following statement from Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm A. Smith.:

Yesterday, I made it clear that we have ceased negotiations on the leadership positions in the Senate Majority. My Conference and I will not distort our vision of government reform. I’m meeting with my members on our plans to move forward, to address the Governor’s executive budget and close the deficit that we face in New York.

Related posts:

  1. Is Joe Bruno the New York State Majority Leader in Exile? (And What Does That Mean for Gay Marriage?)
  2. Advice on Health Care Reform from Malcolm X: Don’t Be a Chump
  3. Rush Limbaugh: Sotomayor is a Threat to Republicans’ Civil Rights
  4. Von Spakovsky Accuses Obama Civil Rights Team of “Nakedly Political” Acts; NYT Fails to Note HvS’s Own Partisan Work
  5. Hey, Harry Reid, Stop Protecting Democrats Who Want to Filibuster the Public Option