Hiram Monserrate blocks State Senate votes
Newsday
Long Island, NY
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny-stcoup1212871344jun11,0,6949172.story
ALBANY – State Sen. Hiram Monserrate blocked action from being taken in the Senate Thursday by announcing that he would oppose all legislation until more Democrats join the new majority coalition.
The Jackson Heights Democrat also wouldn’t recommit to reporters that he supported Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) to be the majority leader. On Monday, Monserrate and Pedro Espada Jr. (D-Bronx) had joined with 30 Republicans to take over the Senate and installed Espada and Skelos as co-chiefs.
Monserrate’s pledge to vote “no” on all bills creates a 31-31 tie with no lieutenant governor to cast the deciding vote.
Meanwhile, the lawmaker ousted by the coalition, Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans), won a restraining order last night from a state Appellate Division judge in Kingston that bars Espada from serving as Senate temporary president in some instances until a court hearing this morning. Both sides were expected in State Supreme Court in Albany seeking a judgment on the rightful Senate leader.
Earlier Thursday, a State Supreme Court judge in Troy refused Smith’s request to stop the new majority from convening a session. Minutes later, Skelos led Republicans to the Senate chamber through about 100 jeering protesters from Citizen Action and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
Espada met Skelos at the locked chamber door, opening it with a key that Democrats said Espada shouldn’t have had. However, the pair didn’t have a key for the drawer where bills are kept, so no votes could be taken.
But Monserrate said he would not have voted with the coalition on bills anyway because other Democratic senators had not joined the group.
As Monserrate spoke to the half-empty chamber, protesters pounded on gallery windows.
Later, he told reporters that more Democrats were needed to legitimize the new majority. “You can’t have a coalition government with two Democrats and 30 Republicans. . . . My role is to ensure the Democratic Party is here at the table,” he said.
Espada expressed confidence in Monserrate, who is under intense pressure from unions and others to rejoin the Smith camp.
Espada also said he wanted to encourage Democrats to return to the chamber by bringing the gay marriage bill to a vote. “As I get the same-sex marriage bill on the floor, they’ll take their seats, they’ll debate it,” he said.
But Skelos, who opposes same-sex marriage, was skeptical. “If there’s a conscious decision, at least for now, not to come to the chamber, I don’t believe that bill is necessarily going to get them there,” he told Newsday.
The new majority adjourned yesterday’s session after 30 minutes and said it would reconvene on Monday at 3 p.m.
Responding to the chaos, Gov. David A. Paterson warned that he would compel lawmakers to return to Albany after the June 22 scheduled close of the legislative session. “There are critical issues that need to be addressed,” he said, referring to property tax relief, ethics reform and limits on state spending.