Embattled Senate Hits New Low
By MICHAEL GORMLEY
Updated 7:21 AM EST, Mon, Jun 29, 2009
Gov. David Paterson this week did what no one else could: He brought New York's bickering senators together -- in angry vitriol against him.
Even in New York, where in-your-face politics is always in style, the tenor has hit new lows by any standard:
Sen. Kevin Parker called the Democratic governor a "coke-snorting, staff-banging governor.'' He later called his own comments "reprehensible and regrettable.''
Sen. Eric Adams called a news conference to tell reporters: "The governor lied.''
Sen. Carl Kruger called Paterson "incompetent, incompetent, incompetent.''
And they're Democrats.
Republican Sen. Dean Skelos called the governor "silly,'' saying the Democrat "has to start acting like a leader.''
Republican Sen. George Winner said the governor is "making a fool of himself.''
Senators in the Democratic conference and in the Republican-dominated coalition that sought to overthrow them June 8 have now banded together against Paterson. It came after he threatened their summer vacation, their pork-barrel grants, their pay, even their $160 a day expense checks if they don't get back to work on critical bills, many with a Tuesday deadline.
"I am not going to be intimidated by personal attacks,'' Paterson told reporters Friday. "They have only directed this at me to distract you from the fact that they are not in the chamber.''
Before targeting Paterson, senators hit some lows in intramural discourse, too.
On Tuesday, Democrats sat back in plush, leather chairs as Republicans stood, hands over hearts, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in a session the Democrats' didn't recognize as valid because their leaders weren't in charge.
"That's a slap in the face to all Americans,'' said Republican Sen. William Larkin of Orange County, a World War II veteran. "That's a disgrace ... they ought to be ashamed of themselves.''
Decorum eroded quickly in the tense, long days since the June 8 coup when a Republican-dominated coalition mounted a swift parliamentary plot to seize majority control from the Democratic conference.
In one session called by the coalition -- but boycotted by the Democrats -- several Democrats in attendance laughed, heckled and walked aimlessly to chat between Republicans who thought they had the floor. In another extraordinary session ordered by Paterson, each side held dueling sessions -- at the same time in the same chamber.
In kindergarten, they call that parallel play, a longtime lobbyist noted.
"I don't want to see anybody from the other side,'' said Democratic Sen. Neil Breslin, now in his 12th year representing Albany County. "I'm embarrassed by the conduct of some of the senators in my conference.''
Breslin told The Associated Press he has personal feelings about Paterson's actions but will share them with him directly, not with cameras clicking and recorders whirring.
"I think it's a relatively new thing, and it's out of control,'' Breslin said of the sharp, public invective. "There's long-term damage to the Senate and to the collegiality and the ability to look at senators on the other side and have the same kind of feelings I once had.''
It wasn't always this way.
Although barroom bravado is legend in the back rooms of the Capitol, it has rarely surfaced in the ornate chamber of oak, granite and rich leather called an office by past and future statesmen.
"There was the Warren Anderson code,'' said a Democratic adviser, referring to the former Republican Senate majority leader who worked with Democratic governors Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo. "The code was you spoke no ill of your fellow senator ... and you always treat the governor with respect.''
"It was, in the old days, a very civil and collegial club,'' said the Democrat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the high emotions and tension among senators now.
"It's shocking,'' said Doug Muzzio, a politics professor at Baruch College. "It's gotten past the point where it's even remotely funny.''
Copyright Associated Press
First Published: Jun 28, 2009 7:58 AM EST
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