More Drama in Albany

Democratic and Republican senators, locked in a titanic power struggle over party control, were able to tolerate being in the same room together for less than an hour before adjourning until 5:00 p.m., according to the New York Daily News.

 

Senate Democrats had, earlier today, entered the Senate chambers after negotiations with the GOP broke down and locked the doors behind them, barring their rivals from entry. However, at 3:00 p.m., presumably on the order of Gov. David Paterson who had earlier called for a special session, the doors were opened at 2:47 p.m. and the Republican senators, along with apostate Democrat Pedro Espada Jr., filed into the room. The special session was the first time the two factions had occupied the same space since the GOP overthrew the Democratic majority in a parliamentary coup. The purpose of the special session was to, in the words of Paterson spokesperson Marissa Shorenstein, get the Senate to address “the people’s business.”

 

“The governor doesn’t find these silly games amusing,” she continued.

 

As Senate Republicans, plus Espada, filled the room, the Democrats gave their rivals nothing but silence, even when roll was called minutes later. After several attempts by the GOP to pretend that there was absolutely nothing unusual about 31 non-cooperative, silent Democratic senators (mostly by going through routine Senate procedures), Republican Sen. Malcolm Smith, named the Senate Majority Leader in the coup, said that the Senate would stand at ease pending the arrival of bills from the governor. The session was adjourned, though votes to determine if there is a quorum were met, once again, by silence from Democrats.