First, a deal. Then lawmakers vote.
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- September
- 24
| Â Most citizens probably think that the Legislature convenes at the Capitol to work our agreements on important issues, like taxes, economic development and health care.
 Most citizens, of course, are wrong.  That was highlighted this week when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver refused to follow the lead of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and commit his house to returning to the Capitol for a special session on Oct. 22.   “The Assembly will reconvene when we have agreements on important issues with the Senate,’’ Silver said.  In other words, agreements are hammered out first – in private, by staff members typically who then present them to Silver to sig off on – before lawmakers rubber-stamp them. If deals are reached before Oct. 22 in this manner, lawmakers will return. If the’re not, the Assembly members will stay home.   Not exactly the way the system is described in civics textbooks. |
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on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 4:30 pm by Jay Gallagher.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
