Citizen Action of New York News

The “Wonkster”

Gotham Gazette

http://www.gothamgazette.com/blogs/wonkster/2009/06/15/senate-gridlock/

Democrats and Republicans emerged separately from a meeting this evening and declared they have not been able to negotiate a power-sharing agreement.

Supreme Court Justice Thomas McNamara delayed ruling on the matter this afternoon to allow more time for both sides to negotiate. “I urge you in the strongest way I can,” said McNamara today, “You’ve got to work this out yourselves.” So much for that idea.

New Democratic “CEO”  Sen. John Sampson said that Republicans were too preoccupied with titles to negotiate. Republican leader Sen. Dean Skelos asserted that Democrats need to recognize that last Monday’s vote was legitimate and that he is Majority Leader and Sen. Pedro Espada is temporary President of the Senate.

Sampson and the rest of the Democrats are unwilling to cede that point. So Republicans and Espada, who previously insisted the court had no place deciding the legitimacy of Monday’s leadership vote, now say the judge needs to rule.

“We need judicial intervention, we need judicial action,” declared Espada after the meeting.

Earlier this morning Democrats held a press conference to announce that Sen. Hiram Monserrate had returned to the Democratic fold and that Sen. Sampson will run the conference’s “day to day operations” and function as it’s “CEO,” as Sen. Malcolm Smith put it. What that means isn’t exactly clear.  Smith still claims to be the majority leader and president of the Senate. Monserrate said Democrats will discuss the new leadership structure in the conference over the next few days.

Smith’s pained facial expression told the  story as Monserrate described his leadership as dysfunctional and praised the new structure. “I remain unbought and unbossed,” Monserrate declared. The press release his staffers handed out after the conference  had that phrase underlined and in bold type.

Only a while after Monserrate made his switch official a crowd of “protesters” wearing shirts that read “Reform Coalition-Espada, Monserrate, Skelos-Here to Stay” gathered on the east steps of the Capitol. Their shirts were apparently manufactured before Monserrate decided to switch things up again. It is hard to keep up with events at the Capitol these days.

Rain poured down as the protesters, who had come from the Bronx on a chartered bus, chanted, “Ho-ho, hey-hey, Pedro Espada is here to stay!” Supporters declared they had organized independently, but it was clear that Espada’s office had had a hand in arraigning the effort. Some of the protesters had strong ties to Espada’s campaign. One of the group expects to be working for Espads in the near future.

Eventually Espada made his way out of the Capitol building to talk to gathered members of the press. Espada downplayed Monserrate’s return to the Democratic fold and insisted that that Monserrate has pledged to support him as temporary president of the Senate. Espada denied that the coup that he helped orchestrate is creating gridlock. “There is no gridlock!” he insisted. Espada said that it is the Democrats who refuse to come to session who are delaying legislative action.

Later, outside the Senate chamber, Espada’s supporters and members of Acorn, Citizen Action and other groups that had come to protest the new coalition and the influence of Tom Golisano tried to shout each other down.

Republicans entered the Senate chamber to put on a mock session. Without Monserrate they don’t have the 32 votes needed for a quorum to start a session. That didn’t stop them from standing for the pledge of allegiance. Espada’s Chief of Staff Andrew Yong delivered an invocation.

“Lord, we pray that before us, that we would enact real reform, that there will be true transparency, and that there would be justice in this state,” he said.

Espada told reporters that his Democratic colleagues are creating “gridlock” by not showing up to session. He said they aren’t “showing up to work.” He again threatened to bring gay marriage to a vote to get Democrats to show up. He asked reporters, “Are you telling me that If I introduce, as I will, same-sex marriage onto the floor of the Senate chamber that we will be deadlocked at 31-31? I don’t think so.”

Fox 23 News

Albany, NY

http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story/Both-sides-of-Senate-coup-protest-at-Capitol/-jKtcNgvzUKrA1GG80ig_w.cspx

As the politicians were in court and meeting the media on Monday, civilians upset about what’s been happening, or rather not happening, at the Capitol were making their voices heard.

In the midst of all the chaos over who will run the leadership of the Senate, protestors from both sides showed up to say the Senate’s not for sale, and others to say that the reform of Pedro Espada and others is very real.

Several dozen protestors organized by Citizen Action and other advocate groups began protesting rather silently, but then chanted down the hall toward where senate republicans were meeting — complaining that a billionaire’s big bucks had bought the power of the senate and taken it away from the people’s duly-elected representatives.

Marc Greenberg/Anti-coup protestor: “People that we elected should serve those who elected them, not those who paid for their campaigns and Pedro Espada apparently is happier to serve those who foot the bill for those who pay for his campaign, and not even disclose who pays for his campaign than to serve the people who elected him.”

Moments later, a group of counter protestors from Pedro Espada’s district in The Bronx faced off with the anti-coup protestors, saying that Pedro Espada had taken steps toward reform that senators who had been office for decades had neglected to take up.

Sigfredo Gonzalez/Pro-Espada protestor: “He has joined, we have joined parties together so that business can take place in the state of New York, Republicans and Democrats working together, to make issues take place so we can pass our budget, so the only ones prolonging this is the other side.”

So as these protests continue, the work of the Senate continues to be stalled, which could prompt further protests from taxpayers upset that the work of the people is not getting done.

The Daily Politics

The Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2009/06/espada-fights-fire-with-fire.html

There is what amounts to a shout-off going down just outside the Senate chamber between supporters of Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. and anti-Espada protestors.

The anti group appears to be the same people who were here the other day to protest the ceremonial Senate session at which Sen. Hiram Monserrate took his first public steps away from the so-called coalition government and back into the arms of the Democrats.

(That would be members of Citizen Action and ACORN; they’re holding signs and yelling: “Senate Not for Sale!”)

On the other side are people who identified themselves as Espada constituents from the Bronx. They’re wearing T-shirts that say: “Reform Coalition – Espada, Monserrate, Skelos – is Here to Stay.”

(Apparently, they didn’t get the memo that one of those three bolted the coalition earlier today).

I spoke with one pro-Espada protestor who declined to give his name. He insisted that Espada didn’t organize supporters, saying they came up here of their own accord in a sort of organic show of support for their beloved Bronx senator (who just so happens to be a Westchester County homeowner).

This gentleman told me he came up to Albany on a chartered bus. Who paid for it? He had no idea. He heard about it “through word of mouth.”

As for Espada, he insisted that he remains temporary president of the Senate and has no plans to give that post up anytime soon, nor does he plan to follow Monserrate back to the Democrats – no matter what Sen. Malcolm Smith might claim – arguing: “We can’t undo our legally-binding vote; it’s a very dangerous precedent .”

“The Democratic conference is going to collaborate with its new president pro tempore,” Espada said. “That’s a better way and a more accurate and legal way to frame that argument.”

“I am the president pro tem because if I am not then we all have to be very, very scared
about how we’re violating the Constitution that governs many, many important things beyond this Senate here.”

“… Are you telling me that If I introduce, as I will, same-sex marriage onto the floor of the Senate chamber that we will be deadlocked at 31-31? I don’t think so.

“Are we saying that when school governance comes before this body, are we saying that will be 31-31? I don’t think so. I think as we start to do our job that we will do our job for the people that we serve.”

“There is a bipartisan agreement. It was reached last Monday. There was most assuredly a bipartisan agreement.”

Dueling Protests from Elizabeth Benjamin on Vimeo.

Legislative Gazette

Albany, NY

http://www.legislativegazette.com/day_item.php?item=997

Voters and their advocates held a press conference and protest just outside the Senate Chamber lobby to speak out against the recent turn of events in the state Senate — specifically billionaire businessman Thomas Golisano’s role.

The protesters, from Citizen Action of New York, the Justice and Peace Resource Center in Binghamton, the East Broome Parishes in Broome County, the West Side Neighborhood Alliance and the Long Island Progressive Coalition, say Golisano, who, with the support of the political action committee he founded, played a key role in last week’s Senate power flip, should not be allowed to buy the state Senate and go against the will of the citizens of New York.

They say the new leadership — which they refer to as the “Golisano majority” — does not actually stand for reform, and overthrowing the Senate Democrats blocks real reform that could be accomplished by passing specific pieces of legislation.

“The coup didn’t just change leadership, it put a stop to the people’s agenda — affordable housing, control of health insurance rates, public funding of elections and many other critical issues that impact the lives of average New Yorkers,” said the Rev. Kevin Bunger of East Broome Parishes in Broome County.

The protesters also say the Senate leadership flip undermines the votes of New Yorkers. “The struggle in the state Senate is not a game,” said Veronica Horne from the Capital District Chapter of Citizen Action of New York. “It’s about whether the people’s vote really counts.” Horne also spoke about the history of voting rights in the country, saying the right to vote was “won only with people’s blood and tears,” and therefore “we don’t take the stealing of our democracy by the Golisano majority lightly.”

PolitickerNY.com

http://www.politickerny.com/4037/espada-stands-espada

Jimmy Vielkind

Vote for Pedro.

Legislative Gazette

http://www.legislativegazette.com/day_item.php?item=997

Voters and their advocates held a press conference and protest just outside the Senate Chamber lobby to speak out against the recent turn of events in the state Senate ? specifically billionaire businessman Thomas Golisano?s role.
? The protesters, from Citizen Action of New York, the Justice and Peace Resource Center in Binghamton, the East Broome Parishes in Broome County, the West Side Neighborhood Alliance and the Long Island Progressive Coalition, say Golisano, who, with the support of the political action committee he founded, played a key role in last week?s Senate power flip, should not be allowed to buy the state Senate and go against the will of the citizens of New York.
?They say the new leadership ? which they refer to as the ?Golisano majority? ? does not actually stand for reform, and overthrowing the Senate Democrats blocks real reform that could be accomplished by passing specific pieces of legislation.
??The coup didn?t just change leadership, it put a stop to the people?s agenda ? affordable housing, control of health insurance rates, public funding of elections and many other critical issues that impact the lives of average New Yorkers,? said the Rev. Kevin Bunger of East Broome Parishes in Broome County.
?The protesters also say the Senate leadership flip undermines the votes of New Yorkers. ?The struggle in the state Senate is not a game,? said Veronica Horne from the Capital District Chapter of Citizen Action of New York. ?It?s about whether the people?s vote really counts.? Horne also spoke about the history of voting rights in the country, saying the right to vote was ?won only with people?s blood and tears,? and therefore ?we don?t take the stealing of our democracy by the Golisano majority lightly.?