New York State Senate Might Convene Tomorrow! (Or Not)
So. What's up in Albany? Nothing. Nothing at all. It has actually been too depressing to even occasionally update you. Well, it's also been kind of funny. But now something might happen!
The Democrats and Republicans keep convening separately, having moments of silence, and then gaveling out because they don't have a quorum. But! Hey! Victory for Governor Paterson!
State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi handed Gov. David Paterson a significant victory this afternoon, ruling that each and every member of the deadlocked state Senate - all 62 of them - must convene at the same time in the chamber when the governor calls an extraordinary session.
Teresi ordered the entire Senate to convene at 10 a.m. tomorrow, and called the separate, gavel-in/gavel-out sessions the warring factions have been holding since last week "a fiction" and "an illusion."
But! The attorney for Senate Republicans will appeal tomorrow, and that apparently means the Republicans do not have to show up tomorrow for work.
Meanwhile, hah, Mayor Bloomberg's control over the schools will end tomorrow, and New York City will not be able to balance its budget because the sales tax increase is not even included on the list of legislation that the Democrats can't even pass anyway.
But population growth downstate and population decline upstate means that the Democrats will have a healthy majority in 2013. Hah, if there is a "fair" redistricting process, which, good fucking luck.