Supreme Court Judge Will Not Rule On Senate Leadership

Tuesday, June 16, 2009


The following is your daily dose of comedy from our elected officials; NY1 reports:



A State Supreme Court judge said earlier today that he will not rule on whether the Senate was in active session last week when Republicans and two dissident Democrats staged a power grab, saying it’s improper for the court to get involved in the matter.



At a hearing this afternoon in Albany, State Supreme Court Justice Thomas McNamara dismissed the case and told the Legislature to resolve the issue of leadership.



“I’ll be honest with you,” said McNamara earlier today, “coming out here today and going through this ritual is not something that I’m really getting enjoyment out of.”



A closed-door meeting yesterday failed to produce an agreement on who is in charge of the New York State Senate.



Governor David Paterson says he will step into the Senate chamber and run the session as he did when he was lieutenant governor, thus eliminating the problem of having no one to gavel in the session. He says this temporary move will allow both parties to enter the chamber and pass essential bills.



Several dozens of protesters are outside the state Capitol today, criticizing the inactions of the state government.



The Senate is currently divided at 31 Democrats and 31 Republicans after State Senator Hiram Monserrate rejoined the Democrats yesterday.



That move came one week after Monserrate and fellow Democrat Pedro Espada Junior voted with Republicans, giving the GOP a majority.



Democrats say they offered Republicans several perks at yesterday’s meeting, including alternating leadership on certain days and a bi-partisan review process for bills before they come to the floor.



But Republicans are dismissing those offers, saying last week’s vote to put them in charge was valid. Democrats want the judge to rule that the State Senate was not in an active session for that vote.



Senator Malcolm Smith is insisting that he still retains the title of majority leader. But Monserrate only agreed to rejoin the Democratic conference on a key demand – that Smith, in essence, be replaced as head of the party.



Senator John Sampson of Brooklyn was given the title of leader of the Democratic conference.



“We had a vote, we voted for John Sampson to be our leader for day-to-day business,” said Smith. “As you know, any business or corporate structure where you have a chairman, you have a CEO. You can look at John Sampson as the CEO.”



Meanwhile, in a separate legal action, Democrats are seeking to hold the self-proclaimed temporary president of the Senate, Pedro Espada Junior, in contempt of court for holding a short session yesterday.



Senator Pedro Espada Junior remains defiant, saying the Republicans are in charge of the State Senate.



During a rally outside the Capitol, Espada called himself the president of the Senate and said Senator Dean Skelos is the majority leader.



Espada insists last week’s vote is binding, despite Monserrate’s decision to flip back to the Democrats.



(Source: NY1) (Taken almost entirely from: Yeshiva World News)


(MRN- 19)