Coalition of the Willing: NY State Senate Coup

I suppose I can no longer ignore the conflagration occurring in the New York State Senate. Apparently, the 30 Republicans with two democrats in tow have staged a coup for the Republicans to retake control of the Senate.

Apparently, as a result of the coup, Malcolm Smith, the current Democratic leader has been replaced by Pedro Espada, Jr., also a Democrat and now the new leader of the joint coalition. Coalition may be a questionable description considering that there are 30 Republicans and two Democrats. However, if you take into consideration the "coalition of the willing" that we had going into Iraq where we had 150,000 troops and every other country had a maximum of a few hundred, coalition it is, if they say so.

Anyway, the Republicans have controlled the New York Senate for the last 40 years until the balance of power shifted to the Democrats 5 months ago. This coup originates with opposition to Malcolm Smith, the Democratic leader, for his support of a gay marriage initiative. The Republicans are unilaterally, over their dead bodies, against it. The two democrats who have joined the Republicans, Pedro Espada, Jr, and Hiram Monserrate have also stated unequivocally their opposition to Mr. Smith's voting in the affirmative for such a measure. The slither slather of this recent NY political shenanigan was best summed up in Gail Collins' Op Ed Column in the New York Times published on 6/10/09.

It should also be noted that these two politicians are under investigation for varying malfeasances ranging from domestic assault to misappropriation of funds, you know, the usual. To further incite riot, Tom Golisano, the Republican billionaire and perennial Governor-wannabee, underwrote this coup because he is disgusted with the performance of the Democrats that he supported in the most recent election. YES,WE ALL WANTED CHANGE but it turns out that it is very hard to turn the tide of an entrenched government in 5 months. Sorry Paterson. Sorry Obama. You really do look like more of the same but you really haven't been given a chance to clean up the Republican messes, have you?

Today, Malcolm Smith scored a Coup of his own by gaining an injunction regarding the legality of the "new" Senate leadership. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I am simply disgusted that we should be witnessing petty power-grabbing in the midst of the greatest American economic crisis that is centered right here in New York. Where is Wall Street people? How much did it lose? How much tax revenue has evaporated because of it? How much did the New York State budget increase to appease the Unions despite the financial carnage? New York State is heading toward bankruptcy and this foolhardiness is what we have to deal with? It seems that no matter what, when one is elected to office, there is an inevitable sway toward the preservation of one's own political ass and not the will of the people by whom they were elected to represent. Sad but true.

For the New York State Senate to be in this situation is to make a complete mockery of our whole democratic system. Whatever the outcome, the biggest joke will be on all of us.