A judge is expected to rule this afternoon whether warring Republicans and Democrats must meet as one body to comply with Gov. David Paterson's call for special sessions.
Paterson is trying to force them to pass bonding, taxing and other measures set to expire shortly. He says neither faction alone can seat a quorum needed to act.
The Democrats and a Republican-led coalition have been answering Paterson's order by meeting separately and conducting no official business. The factions are deadlocked 31-31 in a dispute over which has majority control. Negotiations over sharing power have failed so far.
State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi has set a 4 p.m. hearing on a proposed order to compel full attendance at a session Monday.
Peter Kiernan, counsel to Paterson, said Teresi advised them he will rule from the bench.
Two other state judges have declined to rule in the Senate dispute. Asked to determine which group rightfully elected the Senate's presiding officer, both said that under the state constitution, it's up to the senators to sort out their own affairs.
The competing factions last shared the Senate chamber on Tuesday, when they staged dueling sessions and traded sharp words, jeers and derisive laughter.
As brilliantly costumed, flag-waving New Yorkers took to the streets to show their gay pride yesterday, a dark cloud coming out of Albany hovered over their revelry.
When Gov. David Paterson accepted the invitation to be the state's first governor to serve as grand marshal for the annual Gay Pride Parade, he dreamed that he would also do so as the first governor in the state to sign a law legalizing same-sex marriage.
“In my dream, I was grand marshal of a parade where as I’m taking steps down Fifth Avenue, many New Yorkers can take steps down the aisles to be married, which I think is their right,” Paterson said as he began the 40-plus block march from Midtown to Greenwich Village.
It was not to be. The dreams of Paterson and thousands of advocates campaigning for gay marriage have been obstructed by the debacle that has become Albany politics.
As with so many other pressing matters – mayoral control of the school system and local sales taxes, for example – gay marriage has been left on the table until Senate Democrats and Republicans can agree on which party, if either, is in charge.
While Paterson reiterated his hope Sunday that the Senate would move swiftly on the gay-marriage bill, he acknowledged he was hesitant to push the issue too hard. If the controversial law gets inserted into the already frenzied chamber, Paterson fears it could create more division, which would only perpetuate the political crisis in Albany and make it unlikely the bill would pass.
“I think that the bill should be considered,” Paterson told The New York Times, adding, “I have tried not to insert into an already acrimonious situation any controversial legislation that might exacerbate the tension and cause the bill to lose.”
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The Assembly voted for same-sex marriage by a vote of 89 to 52. Yet the bill languishes in the rancorous Senate chamber. And while Senators have heeded the governor's orders to hold a special session, all they've done so far is show up.
Both sides met Sunday to discuss a possible arrangement. Democrats have advocated a temporary accord that would enable key bills to pass, while Republicans are demanding a power-sharing agreement that lasts through 2010, according to the Times.
Even if the chamber reaches a deal to push bills through, however, it's not clear which ones would be on the agenda. And the Albany war has put several key pieces of legislation in precarious positions.
Mayoral control over public schools is set to expire less than 48 hours from now. If the warring Senate can't get its act together before the deadline at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, control would revert back to an elected school board, according to state law.
But right now, no such board exists.
Lack of governance means things could get ugly. Since there's no elected school board, there's no arbitrator over district issues. And different people have different opinions about how things should be run. While the disaster may not be overtly apparent to the public on a day-to-day basis, it would be an administrative nightmare.
"We cannot have a chaotic situation for our kids," said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg was so frustrated by the Senate's inaction that he offered to hand out senators' phone numbers and home addresses to constituents furious that they've spent the last few weeks doing nothing, according to The New York Post.
The state Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill that gives parents a little more say in school administration, but ultimately gives control to the mayor.
Other pressing matters remaining on the Senate's table include the budgets for both New York City and Nassau County. Both could be jeopardized if bonding authorities and sales taxes aren't approved by the end of the month.
