The Stalemate Goes On
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- July
- 3
Senators are expected to spend July Fourth at the state Capitol after the warring sides Friday met privately with Gov. David Paterson, but failed to reach an agreement to end the nearly four-week leadership fight.
“We’re going to be here for the July Fourth celebration,” Sen. Pedro Espada, D-Bronx, said after emerging from an hour-long leaders’ meeting with Paterson at the Capitol.
The sides said they continue to work to end the stalemate that started June 8 after Espada and Sen. Hiram Monserrate, D-Queens, joined Republicans to overthrow the Democratic majority. Monserrate since rejoined the Democratic conference, leading to the 31-31 deadlock.
“We want to restore the pubic confidence that we can get something done,” said Sen. Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, who was ousted as majority leadersip in the coup.
But senators remains at odds over who is in charge. Republicans continue to insist on a long-term agreement to share power but want to maintain the control they say they won June 8.
Espada, who was voted as Senate president in the coup, said he and Republicans floated to Paterson a proposal that would swap the Senate presidency every six months until the end of 2010—when the next Senate elections are held.
Democrats want a short-term deal that would allow the sides to pass critical legislation, such as tax extenders for local governments. The city of Yonkers said it will run out of money in a few weeks if the Senate doesn’t extend some local taxes.
Paterson has ordered senators to attend special sessions every day over the holiday weekend. Ones are scheduled Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m.
On Thursday, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said he will withhold senators’ pay until the leadership dispute is resolved.
This entry was posted
on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 2:50 pm by Joseph Spector.
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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. 
