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After court order NY State Senators meet twice, accomplish nothing
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After another day of partisan bickering, a State Supreme Court judge yesterday ruled that New York Governor David A. Paterson was acting within his executive authority when he called all 62 members of the New York State Senate into a special session under extraordinary circumstances and ordered that all 62 Senators be present in the chamber at any time the governor chose to call such a session.
Last night, Paterson called a session for 10 a.m. today, All 31 Democrats showed up and began session, but quorum was lacking, but when Senator Frank Padavan (R - Queens) walked into the room, giving the Senate quorum, Democrats quickly adjourned.
During an Albany news conference this afternoon, Paterson was flanked by dozens of stakeholders in a large variety of legislation that the Senate has yet to even consider and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg participated via videophone. As the mayor and governor pleaded with legislators to put partisan politics aside and uphold their duties to do the peoples business. Bloomberg begged senators to meet and put the issue of mayoral control of the city schools and a half percent tax increase to a vote.
The word "lawyer" was heard quite frequently.
"If the legislature fails to extend mayoral control, the only ones who will benefit are the lawyers," said Bloomberg, who is certain that as the city enters "uncharted waters" that "at least someone will sue us."
Paterson gave legislators one more chance, as he called another extraordinary session of the Senate for 7 p.m. "Any Senator who doesn't show up tonight and do the people's business better have a good lawyer," said Paterson.
The 62 Senators did indeed show up at 7 p.m. Immediately after it was established that all 62 senators were present they immediately adjourned.
From Buffalo to New York City and Long Island, dozens of sunset provisions, which if put to a floor vote would easily be renewed will expire at 12:01 a.m. on July 1.
The Senate's failure to act on mayoral control of the New York City Schools and the city's tax increase drew an angry response from Bloomberg:
I said this afternoon that today, June 30, 2009, would be a day that will tell us an awful lot about our State Senate. Sadly, that has turned out to be entirely true. Like millions of New Yorkers, I had hoped that when push came to shove, our Senators would muster the courage to rise above partisan gridlock and do what’s right on school governance, our sales tax, and so many other issues. Unfortunately, they did not. The fact is, there is broad, bi-partisan support for the school governance bill, but it’s being held hostage to partisan politics. All we want is all 62 Senators to come together and take a vote. Because the Senate refused to act like a responsible body today, come tomorrow, sadly, the lawyers take over in New York City schools. Every decision – from personnel decisions to policy decisions – will be subject to litigation and uncertainty. But make no mistake about it, we will not allow Albany dysfunction to padlock our school buildings or cancel the summer school sessions our kids need to get ahead.
The Senate’s failure to act today also cost us at least $60 million in lost revenue. That’s what it costs the NYPD to support 600 police officers for a month, or what our Department for the Aging spends to keep all 305 Senior Centers open for eight months. The $60 million the State Senate cost us today could potentially mean layoffs that would hurt families when they can least afford it, and will certainly mean cuts to services that every New Yorker needs.
This reporter will bring you a comprehensive report from a wide array of perspectives regarding mayoral control of the New York City school system.
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