Well, that's a bit inaccurate. Everything I read in the New York Times each day on the subject suggests that gay marriage is a tangential issue on the deadlock with the exception of perhaps Senator Diaz, a Democrat and minister from Brooklyn (and vehement anti-gay marriage opponent).Originally Posted by ponyboy
In a nutshell, the split is a transition between the parties. Republicans have controlled the NY Senate for 40 years until this last January. During that time they consolidated large amounts of power for the majority and left the minority out in the cold.
After grabbing a few extra seats last fall on Obama's coattails the Democrats took control in January with a 32-30 majority. Their control almost wasn't, as four Democrats threatened to vote to appoint a Republican leadership in the Senate unless they were given certain concessions. Two of them received plum leadership jobs. A third, Diaz, is rumored to have gotten the Democratic speaker to agree to keep a vote about gay marriage off the floor of the Senate. I'm not sure what happened to the fourth person.
The months went by and the Speaker of the NY Senate said he would only bring up gay marriage for a vote if he was certain he had the votes to win. Gay marriage advocates wanted it to come up for a vote either way. Tom Duane, an openly gay state senator, announced he had the votes to pass the bill but refused to name names. Several Republican senators refused to publicly disclose their position on the bill stating they were protesting Democratic treatment of the Republican minority (which was bad, as the majority gets all the power, remember?) by not assisting the Speaker with his vote count whether the bill would pass or not. Whether it would pass or not no one was sure, and all knew it would be close.
About ten days before the end of the session there was a coup on the floor of the Senate. Two Democrats (Espada and Monserrate) suddenly put a motion on the floor to reconsider the Senate leadership. Stunned Democrats quickly announced the session was over for the day, while Republicans immediately ran down a roll call vote supporting a Republican leadership. Both sides began arguing with each other, journalists ran from all over the building into the Senate chambers, and someone eventually turned off the public access tv channel covering the Senate. Eventually the 30 remaining Democrats walked out of the room turning off the lights behind them.
The next few days were a madhouse. Espada was pronounced the Speaker for the remaining days of the session. Monserrate reconsidered and returned to the Democratic fold. And while Republicans tried to hold sessions in the Senate Chamber, they only had 31 people which was not enough for a quorum and quickly left. At one point both sides were in the chamber together holding separate meetings at the same time. Republicans voted to give the minority significantly more power in the Senate. Democrats mainly gave speeches and took symbolic votes. :catfight:
Now all this would be moot if there was a Lieutenant Governor to cast a tie-breaking vote. Unfortunately, Governor Spitzer in New York had a meeting with an Emperor's Club callgirl and resigned. (Turned out he'd been seeing quite a few of them). The Lt. Gov was promoted and his position remains unfilled.
The situation quickly degenerated into lunacy. Besides the ridiculous mock sessions both sides tried to exercise, both sides went to court (and are still there) to exercise their claim on the Senate. Several judges tossed out various cases pleading with Senate leaders to solve the issue through negotiation. The Democrats dumped their Speaker and appointed a new leader. The Daily News even sent a clown to the Senate building to walk around and get into as many pictures as he could with State Senators giving interviews. :joker:
Eventually the session ended for the summer. The governor began to call them into special session every day including Sundays and holidays. He promised to continue doing so until the two sides negotiated a leadership agreement between them and finished action on several bills before the Senate including the one on gay marriage.
The two sides met in a number of negotiation meetings but were unable to come to an agreement. The Democrats proposed alternating leadership every day and all votes would be agreed upon in advance between a committee with an equal number of people from both parties. The Republicans refused to consider any leadership agreement which did not give them control of the Senate with Espada presiding.
(Incidentally, just a month before the Senate blew up, Republicans were calling for Espada's resignation over an unrelated issue. Once he switched parties the calls ceased.)
As of a few days ago the governor's office was in court seeking to withhold all salaries and expense payments for the Senators. He can't dock their pay under the state constitution, but he hoped to annoy them into negotiating a compromise. Meanwhile, the two sides continue to sit in the capital every day, including weekends and holidays, unable to leave because of the governor's continued calls for a special session.
So gay marriage isn't really the primary issue between the two sides. The real issue they are feuding about is the amount of power the minority in the Senate is entitled to. Northern NY (the Republican area) has been hemorrhaging voters for years. Southern NY and NYC (the Democratic area) has been growing larger and more diverse. Some estimates in the 2010 Census have the Democrats picking up as many as eight seats in the Senate with no reversal of fortune in sight for Republicans.
Incumbent Republican Senators in the NY Senate are also virtually never defeated in elections, although contested races for open seats can sometimes go either way. Half of the Republican Senate is made up of men over 62 years of age, so they won't be there forever.
So Republicans want to give greater power to the minority while they can, as Democrats won't give it voluntarily while they are in control. 40 years of bitterness among Democrats have seen to that. Between changing Demographics in the state and the number of aging NY Republican Senators, Republicans are facing an ongoing exile from power with no end in sight.
That's what the split was about -- power. Not gay marriage. Gay marriage was simply unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire.
--Aaron
PS, Remember that Senator Diaz previously threatened to vote for a Republican leadership. If gay marriage is passed with the support of Democrats, he may split the party causing further upheval in the Senate.
Stay tuned for details, folks!
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks