People are always knocking the New York State Senate, but it's the closest thing to democracy in Albany and the only house of the Legislature where not every vote is stitched up in advance. I dropped by this evening when they were debating a charter school bill which passed 45-15, with members of both parties on both sides.
Supporters included Senators Ruben Diaz and Craig Johnson, two Democrats who not long ago were calling for each other's ouster. This evening, Diaz chatted and laughed on the floor with Johnson, the bill sponsor, presumably preparing him for a series of questions he was about to ask, in which exchange both of them made speeches on behalf of the bill. The legislation is supportive of charter schools and is opposed by NYSUT, the teachers union. That probably means it's going nowhere in the Assembly (unless they become convinced that passage really would induce the feds to give the state up to $700 million in "Race to the Top" funding).
Johnson, by the way, is also pushing Senate redistricting reform with a committee meeting tomorrow. Being a cynical fellow, I see both parties dragging this out until after the election, and then the losers becoming fierce advocates of reform while the winners -- i.e. the new Senate majority -- lose interest.
I think what people most knock about the state senate is the nature of many of its members from sleazy (Espada) to thuggish (Montserrate) to cluelss (Smith) to chidlish (Parker)... though I realize that in a way, those traits may represent society too well.
Posted by: Brian | May 03, 2010 at 11:05 PM