After the New York Republicans won a state Senate majority in a fantastic feat of party-switching last week. they have now lost it. And now…nobody has the majority. It’s a 31-31 tie.
State Sen. Hiram Monserrate, one of two Democrats who switched his organization vote to the Republicans, has now switched back to the Democrats — and the old Democratic leader Malcolm Smith is now out of his leadership office, and has been replaced by a more amenable choice, state Sen. John Sampson.
At the same time the other Democrat who switched, Pedro Espada, insists that he is still Senate president — the office that he, Monserrate and the 30 Republicans voted him into — and that Monserrate still supports him.
The upshot of all of this is that the chamber is now at a 31-31 tie — and there is no office for breaking the tie, due to the vacancy in the Lt. Governor’s office that happened after David Paterson succeeded to the Governorship. Sampson and Smith have sent a letter to the GOP leadership, calling for a full power-sharing deal. Meanwhile, Senate GOP Leader Dean Skelos says he’ll only negotiate if the Dems recognize his legitimacy as majority leader, after the Dems insisted last week’s leadership vote was an unlawful coup.
New York may need outside intervention from a more stable body politic in order to resolve this impasse in leadership. Maybe Iran can help out?
