Sex, Power, ‘Reform’
By Bob Gaydos
It’s all Eliot Spitzer’s fault.
If the cocky former governor had been able to keep it in his pants, or at least in his own bedroom at home, the state government would not be in a shambles as it is today and comedians looking for examples of messed up states to ridicule would have to focus on California or Florida. But Spitzer spent thousands on hookers in Washington, D.C., and the feds busted him, forcing him to resign, making Lt. Gov. David Paterson governor and leaving the state without a lieutenant governor so that when two turncoat Democrats decided to bolt to the Republican Party in a state Senate that had only gone over to slim Democratic control this year, thus creating a 32-32 standoff, there was no lieutenant governor available to perform the only significant duty required of that office — to break ties in the state Senate.
Sex and power. Ipso facto. Thus has it ever been in politics and don’t let any of those politicians claiming this is all about reform kid you. It’s not. It’s about who’s in charge and the devil and taxpayers be damned.
As I’m writing this, nothing of worth is getting done in Albany and the question of who is in charge of the Senate rests in an Albany courtroom thanks to a ruling Thursday in a Kingston courtroom. Appellate Court Judge Karen Peters, a former Ulster County Family Court judge, issued a temporary restraining order preventing one of the mutineers from taking over as president of the Senate until the question could be thrashed out in another court. That judge adjourned the arguments until Monday (June 15) and urged Republicans and Democrats to work it out, or he would.
Throughout all the wrangling and posturing, the words “coalition” and “reform” were thrown about like confetti at a wedding. But the likelihood of a happy coupling was remote. Yet there was a local senator — John Bonacic, a Republican from Mount Hope — gushing about the reforms that this political coup was likely to produce in Albany, even though his party had ignored reforms for four decades and even though one of the two defectors to the GOP, Sen. Pedro Espada of the Bronx, is a walking textbook on why reforms are needed.
Espada is under investigation in the Bronx because there is some question whether he actually lives in the district he represents. Also, he owes thousands of dollars in fines for violations of campaign finance laws and he is under investigation for possibly taking thousands of dollars in grants given to not-for-profit health organizations he created and diverting them into his campaign account. Espada, who has agreed not to leave the country, was poised to assume control of the Senate until Peters said not so fast.
And there was the senior local senator, William Larkin, Republican from Cornwall-on-Hudson, noticeably silent on the defection of Sen. Hiram Monserrate of Queens to the GOP, even though a mere six months ago Larkin signed a resolution urging the Senate not to seat Monserrate until felony assault charges leveled against him were resolved in court. Monserrate is accused of slashing his girlfriend in the face with a piece of glass. Apparently now Larkin presumes him to be innocent.
And lurking behind the scenes in this “push for reform” was a man voters have rejected three times when he ran for governor — billionaire lobbyist Tom Golisano. Golisano, angry that legislators had come up with a tax on the rich, worked out this coup in secret meetings with the defectors, in which they all say nothing was promised in return for their switch because, after all, that would be illegally trading votes for favors. The noble Golisano would only say repeatedly that if the two men pursue the reform agenda on which they had agreed, he would “support” them. Since he has an independent political organization that is not considered a PAC, that means both men could get thousands for their future campaigns — in which they will certainly face opposition — and thousands more for legal representation, which it appears both will need.
Another point to ponder: If Espada becomes Senate president he would be next in line for the governorship. As ineffectual as Paterson has been, having a Golisano puppet running the state would be the ultimate disgrace for New York. Golisano, who moved to Florida to avoid New York taxes, could in effect buy a state through secret meetings and secret promises, all in the name of reform. Talk about your banana republic.
This is not reform, Mr. Bonacic.
Bob can be reached at bob@zestoforange.com.
Tags: Bob Gaydos
June 24th, 2009 at 11:24 am
This is the best piece I’ve read yet about the current insanity in Albany. Thanks, Bob!
I strongly disagree with you, however, about Keith Olbermann, who you trashed in your first Zest article. Olbermann had the courage to speak out against the war in Iraq on MSNBC when all the rest on TV were serving as cheerleaders. For that alone he deserves our respect. It seems unfair to single him out because you don’t like his personality when there are so many others far worse…like “Mr. Bouncy-Bouncy” and “Bill-o the Clown,” to name but two.