June 29, 2009 - It’s Monday afternoon, Day 22 of the State Senate stalemate. The current impasse follows the Republican coup on June 8, in which new leadership was elected and installed before Democratic staff members turned off the lights and the microphones in the Senate chamber.

There is a June 30 deadline on some legislation, including mayoral control of the schools and tax increases, so it is possible that there will be some action today or tomorrow. But the two parties are still divided over the apportionment of the spoils, the six-figure staff jobs that are dispensed by the Senate majority leader.

The protracted dispute has reduced confidence in state government to a new low.  It was five years ago that the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School first said that New

June 24, 2009 - As the Senate Impasse enters Day 17, conveying a pathetic portrait of New York State unable to govern itself, we turn our attention to the matters piled up and awaiting action by the evenly divided legislature.

They include an extension of mayoral control of New York City schools; a variety of tax increases, including a one-half percent in the sales tax, which will bring the total rate paid on purchases in the City to nine per cent; same-sex marriage, which has ignited the most fervent approval and disapproval; and several hundred bills which are usually adopted by both houses close to the end of the legislative session.  Some of the bills have important financial consequences to cities and other localities, and others face a June 30 deadline for legislative action.

June 22, 2009 - Monday is Day 15 of the Great Senate Impasse, triggered by the Blackberry Turnover that took place suddenly and without warning, two weeks ago today.  Since that day, no public business has been transacted by the New York State Senate, though the body sees to it that members from both parties, and their staffs, are paid on time.  The impasse exists since the 31 Democrats refuse to enter a chamber led by a Republican, even though disputed Majority Leader Dean Skelos was selected by a 32-30 vote.  Thirty-two is the number of votes required to pass a bill or to take any other action in the 62-member body.  Since 32 members are needed for a quorum, and neither party can muster that number, all legislation has come to a complete halt.

June 19, 2009 - As some of you may recall, we started counting days on June 8, the day the Republicans took control of the State Senate with the aid of two renegade (or enlightened) Democrats.  We write late Friday (Day 12) and the next business and court day is Monday, June 22 (Day 15).  The Senate had planned to adjourn for the summer that day, leaving eight days before the law providing mayoral control of the public schools, adopted in 2002, expires unless it is renewed.     There are external consequences to the Senate’s inability to convene, much less function.

It was just one week ago that we reported Tom Golisano’s profound disappointment at Malcolm Smith’s frequent conversations with his pet Blackberry while the man who helped finance the Democratic take-over of the Senate had been granted an audience to discuss matters of substance.  Smith had been installed as temporary president of the Senate, 32-30, with Golisano’s financial assistance in