Can anyone explain and/or defend what’s going on the the New York legislature?
As I understand it, the GOP convinced two Democrats to switch alleigances, and voted in a new Senate leader. In retaliation, the Democrats locked the Senate doors, hid the copies of current bills, and spirited away the official stenographer in an effort to stop the Senate from doing business.
What am I missing?
It seems pretty crappy behavior. I was listening to something on NPR about this a couple of nights ago, and it appears the two who swtiched are interesting figures to say the least - one is under investigation for financial shenanigans re a non profit, I think, and the other is under indictment for slashing a woman in the face with a broken glass.
The radio report was discussing the role of some financier who bankrolled NY Dems for a while, then moved to Florida. All round it is not reflecting well on the state Democrat party.
It’s not making the Republican Party look any better than the Democratic Party. As I understand it, there are serious questions as to whether what the Republicans did was actually legal under the New York Senate’s rules.
Good God. Them New Yorkers are giving the Texas Lege a run for its money on the Wacky-Yet-Stupid Political Antics front.
Can you explain this a little? I figured there must be some genuine issue underneath this all.
There are fairly strong grounds for thinking that the two ‘turncoat’ Senators accepted bribes – one was in fact named as President Pro Tem of the Senate, which in the absence of a Lieutenant Governor would make him in charge of the Senate amd second man in the state.
And it appears that the Republican takeover motions were made during or after a motion to adjourn had been made and/or voted on. (While I am Democrat, I have very little use for the New York legislative leadership of either political persuasion – I’ve “seen th4 sausage being made” in my old job. In this particular case, it looks like the Republicans were the ones acting despicably, but the Democrats have done similar – I may have mentioned the bit of Assembly redistricting by the Democrats that attempted to eliminate my own longtime (Republican) State Assemblyman by one of the oddest gerrymanders since the original one.)
Made, but not voted on. The Democrats ended the session without voting on the adjournment.
That’s Thomas Golisano. Founder of Paychex, owner of the Buffalo Sabres and Western New York’s most famous billionaire. He also ran for governor three times.
He seems pretty proud about his “hand” in this, which really makes me question the legality of what happened. It also makes me feel more than a little dirty for voting for him when he ran for governor.
You don’t want to know what goes on with our legislature.
Trust me. It’s too depressing. Just go back to imagining that their are some decent people in Albany. It’ll help you sleep better.
Seriously though, our legislature sucks balls. It’s not a democratic or republican thing. Albany is just full of selfish scumbags.
I’m not sure I understand you. I don’t believe it’s a “bribe” in the legal, criminal sense of the word to say, “If you join our party, we’ll make you President Pro Tem.”
That sounds a bit more hinky.
Explain? Defend? Why not (in a bipartisan fashion) just sit back and giggle our asses off?
I’m incredibly amused by this. I’ve no idea which side is in the right, nor do I much care. It’s political theater at its finest.
Admittedly, if I lived in New York, I’d probably care. But I don’t live there, and so I don’t care, and hence the entertainment value is pretty good.
Says who? The only way a session can “end” is when whoever is in control of the “gavel” ends it. This can only happen upon a motion for recess (in which case a brief interruption can occur) or a motion for adjournment. IIRC (it’s been a while since I dabbled with Robert’s Rules of Order), a motion to adjourn is not debateable, takes precedence over any other motion on the floor, and need not be the subject of a roll call vote. Thus, the person in charge of recognizing speakers, taking motions, etc., can assert that he/she recognized a person who made a motion to adjourn, heard that it was seconded, and assert that this was voted upon by voice vote, show of hands, or some such thing, at which point the session was adjourned. This would be perfectly “legal.”
Indeed, if a motion to adjourn was made, then any attempts at changing the leadership made thereafter were out of order until the motion to adjourn was voted down. So regardless of whether the motion to adjourn was voted upon, any further activity thereafter was “illegal” (that is, out of order).
Makes for a right mess, it does. New York politics at its finest. And they complain about the California Legislature… 
Say what you want, despite being full of morons, the Senate ain’t that bad. I mean, compared to some places. This is just sausage being made. Two desparate people trying to kick over the applecart before they get chucked out on their ears. (They get convicted of a felony, they lose their seats.)
Oh, and the Governor has the right to recall the Senate, if I remember right. And he’s threatened to do so if they adjourn without settling the actual business.
Doesn’t that happen all the time at the federal level when senators switch parties? They get promised a chairmanship, or at least to keep their seniority, etc.
I would like to say that this is both hilarious and utterly in character for the legislature of New York… since about 1765.
Sure. Those aren’t bribes, at least in the criminal sense. We may quibble about whther they’re morally “bribes,” but they fall into the same murky waters as “You vote for my pork and I’ll vote for yours.”
“All the time” is a bit hard to say, since to my knowledge, there have been four party-switchers in the Senate since 1994: Richard Shelby and Ben Nighthorse Campbell in 1994, Jim Jeffords in 2001, and Arlen Specter in 2009. That’s a bit of a small sample size from which to draw conclusions. Usually seniority transfer and committee chairmanships are the main bargaining chips for persuasion, but there are others. In the US Senate, the position of President Pro Tem is not particularly prestigious, powerful, or contested; the title is simply given to the most senior member of the majority party. It’s not something Specter or Shelby would have asked for or gotten.
The Colony of New York didn’t have a legislature before then, did it?
Actually,m Ney York had a legislature (though not exactly like today’s) in 1685. This was something of a rebellion, as the previous Dutch governer’s explicit attitued was “tax them so heavily they can’t do anything but desperately try to pay it”. We can see the modern New York legislature continues in this fine tradition. 
No, seriously, New York’s crazy-incompetent legislature was something of a legend even in colonial times.
Oh, I have stories about the Dutch legislature… Weird shit happened, weird shit happened.
Still, I mean, this is ‘relatively’ harmless stuff. It’s not like they’re outlawing violent video games or doubling taxes on something.