Right now, you have a situation where both Dem. Malcolm Smith and Rep. Dean Skelos are claiming to be Majority Leader of the Senate. Former Leader Joe Bruno is only 10 months into a 2 year lobbying ban.
Bruno just issued a public statement saying that he favored the marriage equality legislation pending in the Senate and that, although he will not be able to work the phones or solicit votes in favor of this legislation directly, he hopes his public position on this may sway enough votes from his former colleagues to pass the bill.
Think about that for a moment, it’s staggering. It would set Bruno up as a de facto majority leader in exile. Able to pass legislation and to circumvent the lobbying ban. That would be an astounding display of power and would, yet again, shift the governing paradigm in Albany.
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New York has lost its mind.
SO glad I no longer live there.
Obviously there’s a story behind Bruno’s change of heart on gay marriage. Perchance the intrepid Mike Rogers knows what it is.
And here I thought the FL legislature was a joke. Read this from NYT.
I don’t know about Bruno’s change of heart, but this is a dramatic test run for Leader in Exile status.
If he can pull this off, especially on an issue he previously opposed (so it’s not like there is some sentimetnal reson to give the guy a vote on an issue he had been pushing for years, or anything) would be a staggering show of power.
The story about Golisano being behind the coup is amazing for the idea that one incidence of rudeness could have such startling consequences.
The whole notion that Golisano’s skin is so thin that he would exact this kind of revenge –and throw state government into chaos–just because Smith fiddled with a blackberry is a pretty strong claim for NYTimes to make
wow. double wow actually when i include SD’s link.
please excuse the early ot, just want to mention an important hearing this morning:
Single Payer Universal Healthcare Gets a Hearing Today at 10:30am
Jeez. I hope our intrepid lawmakers don’t read this.
Sounds to me like some states need to change the name of the room where these clowns congregate from “Chambers” to “Asylum”
This level of reporting recalls the Around City Hall beat covered by Andy (Isabel Ann) Logan in The NYER.
Jane has a new post upstairs…
So I thought the right was staunchly opposed to gay marriage, unless there’s a political angle involved I see.
There’s no law against Bruno lobbying from the sidewalk and he is doing a good job of it.
Enjoy.
Not OT exactly, selise. One of the least heralded last acts of the Democratic NY State Senate was passage of a resolution supporting the national single payer bill HR 676.
So NYC is controlled by billionaire Bloomberg, and NYS is controlled by billionaire Golisano.
Our pay-to-play system of government gives democracy a bad name.
This is OT: Cynthia, are you any relation to Doug and Gail?
Kouril?
What state? One of my father’s cousins was married to a Gail. Not picturing any Doug’s in my head at the moment, but mine is a BIG family. So, by the time you get to the 3rd cousin level, it’s hard to keep track.
Give me some geography and I might be able to place the names.
There aren’t all that many Kourils in th e US, most are related to me, except for one family of cops in LI that we cannot figure out any connection to.
Thank you, that is such a nice (and undeserved) compliment
Doug was in my Rutgers graduating class of 1976. More friend-of-a-friend, but I thought I’d ask.
My dad’s cousin George lived in NJ, had 4 sons. AM having trouble remebering all 4 names, could have been one of them. Right age