EdVANTAGE Blog

Republicans have reclaimed control of the State Senate as two New York City Democrats joined with the 30 Republicans to vote to change the leadership of that house in a stunning mid-afternoon turn of events yesterday.

Historically, the leader of the majority party in the State Senate has carried two titles “Temporary President and Majority Leader” (the Lieutenant Governor is the “permanent” president of the Senate).  But those titles will now be split between the Republican leader Dean Skelos of Nassau County and Bronx Democrat Pedro Espada, one of the two Democrats who bolted their party to apparently end its control of the chamber.

Senator Skelos will reclaim his former title of Majority Leader, while Senator Espada will be Temporary President, and as a consequence, would become Governor should anything happen to David Paterson (the office of Lieutenant Governor has been vacant since Mr. Paterson succeeded Eliot Spitzer as Governor).

Florida billionaire Thomas Golisano played a key role in yesterday’s events and was in Albany to participate in a news conference with the two new Senate leaders shortly after the vote occurred.

Extensive changes in Senate rules and operating practices are promised.

Democrats are challenging the legality of yesterday’s action, but their prospects seem doubtful.  To the extent that formal procedures were not followed perfectly, that could be corrected by a second vote.  Also, courts might be reluctant to intercede in the internal operations of another co-equal branch of government.

All Senate committee meetings scheduled for today have been cancelled and the house is now not scheduled to return to session until Wednesday afternoon.

The Legislature had been scheduled to end its regular session on June 22nd, but that timeline has to be in doubt as it would give the new majority only two weeks to negotiate resolution of outstanding major issues and act on its own priorities, while simultaneously installing new operating procedures and committee chairs.

The change in Senate control could breathe new life into proposals to cap school property taxes.

At the same time the state struggles with calamitous economic prospects, New York is going through a period of extraordinary turbulence in leadership.  We had three Governors in three years and now three (or four) Senate leaders in less than one year.  Also, four of six statewide elected offices are not filled by people elected to them  — Governor, Lieutenant Governor (vacant), Comptroller and one U.S. Senate seat.

Next year, all 212 State legislative seats will be up for all election, as well as all statewide offices, including both U.S. Senate seats — Kirsten Gillibrand and others will compete for the right to serve out the remaining two years from Hillary Clinton’s term.  It will be an awfully expensive political year.

For much more on what happened, how it happened, and what it might mean, check out the New York Daily News’ “Daily Politics” blog post.