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Albany Times-Union, January 11, 2005
Senate Rethinks Reform Package
Erin Duggan
The state Senate abruptly pulled its rules reform legislation off the
table Monday and went back to the drawing board -- with the Democratic
minority by its side.
Meanwhile, the Democratic-led Assembly put into place about a dozen reforms
to the way it operates, in a bipartisan agreement that even the Legislature's
toughest critics greeted with tentative praise. The first look at the
remodeled rules in each house came late last week. The Assembly released its actual
legislation, while Senate Republicans produced a report of the changes it
planned to make, with brief descriptions. The Senate GOP proposal came under
fire for targeting the Democratic minority and not making significant
changes.
"We have come to an agreement that the important thing in this chamber
is that we be responsive to the public, and we be open," said Senate
Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, after two meetings with his
conference, and with Senate Minority Leader David Paterson, D-Manhattan.
The telltale sign that all was not settled with the Senate plan was a
two-hour delay in starting the session while the majority members met in
Bruno's conference room. After briefly convening the entire body to pass a
resolution marking the South Asian tsunami and to take care of a few small
items, the Senate adjourned again to go back into party conferences.
When lawmakers reconvened, Bruno said he and Paterson agreed to table the new
rules for two weeks, while the old rules that governed the legislative body
were temporarily reinstated.
Democratic Senators, who late last week and early Monday attacked the
Republicans' plan, said Bruno was reacting to the negative response his plan
received.
Before the decision, several groups, including the Brennan Center for Justice
at New York University, Common Cause/N.Y., and the League of Women Voters,
came out against Bruno's plan.
"It's like a quarterback getting to the line and saying, 'This is not
going well,' and calling a time out," said Sen. Eric Schneiderman,
D-Manhattan.
But several Republicans said the rules didn't go forward because the majority
called the minority's bluff on the hot issue of "empty seat
voting."
Until now, lawmakers did not need to be in their chamber -- or even in Albany
-- for a vote, but could simply be listed as voting with their party. The
Assembly changed that in its rules Monday.
Bruno's proposal required only members voting "no" -- primarily
minority lawmakers -- to be at their desks during a vote.
Democrats blasted the Senate change as unfair, but balked when Bruno said
he'd push for a total ban on empty-seat voting, according to two majority
members.
Democrats denied that claim. Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, said Monday that
Bruno changed his mind for three reasons: public pressure, being out-reformed
by the Assembly and the loss of three majority Senate seats in the November
election.
"That is causing a sea change," she said.
Publicly, the two Senate leaders collegially explained why they were holding
their proposals.
Bruno said they were working toward a common goal, and Paterson said the two
parties "have reached a higher level of consciousness and perhaps the
dawning of a new era of cooperativeness."
In the Assembly, the two parties joined to pass the reforms 143-1.
Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, thanked Minority Leader Charles Nesbitt,
R-Albion, and heralded their cooperation as a sign of things to come.
"Charlie," said Silver, "it is my sincere hope that the spirit
of bipartisanship that fills this chamber today will grow and foster good
will that will carry us through this legislative session."
That bipartisan cheer failed to reach one lawmaker, Assemblyman Thomas
Kirwan, R-Newburgh, the lone no vote.
Kirwan later explained: "It really was just too modest for me."
"The problem is the concentration of power" in the hands of the
majority, Kirwan said. "Until that's diluted, nothing's going to
change."
Late last year, Kirwan held a joint news conference with Krueger in which the
two lawmakers threatened to sue the state if satisfactory reforms weren't
adopted in their respective chambers.
The suit, which has not yet been filed, demands equal staffing for minority
and majority members as well as other changes to benefit rank-and-file
members. Originally, Kirwan and Krueger planned to give their houses until
Jan. 18 to adopt reforms. But the Senate Republicans' unexpected decision
Monday to delay passing rules changes for two weeks in order to reach an
agreement with their Democratic colleagues complicated that schedule.
Kirwan said he wants to move forward with the suit, but Krueger said she
feels compelled to wait and see what her chamber does later this month.
"I probably am still gung-ho about the lawsuit, but I would have to
suspend any decision about that now until we do rules on Jan. 24," she
said.
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