A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME

By Henry J. Stern
June 21, 2005

As the adjournment of the state legislature approaches, it becomes harder than ever to keep up with the players and their machinations.  Toward the end of the session, even more power is assumed by the leadership. Bills are rushed through or buried in minutes, legislation is passed that no one has had the time to read, much less understand, and the important issues are resolved, or not resolved, not only far from the public eye but far from the eyes of most senators and assemblymembers. This is the way matters have been handled for many years.


HOW TO BE AN ALPHA MALE.    SEVEN STEPS TO THE TOP.
 
How does this happen?  Because it is the way the big boys play.  Why do they play that way?  That's how they got to be big boys; they played harder and tougher than the other kids.

How do you play harder and tougher?  First, line up a group who will follow you.  For them, whatever you say, goes. Second, change the rules to favor your side.  After all, what are rules for, anyway.   Third, reward your supporters and punish anybody who crosses you on any matter, commensurately with the offense (the carrot and stick approach, it works on donkeys and elephants).  Fourth, if you have to, change the boundaries of the playground, so troublemakers won't get in your face any more.  That's called redistricting, best done by a panel of stooges.  Fifth, make an example of a rival, who tried to be the leader, and drive him out of the game completely.  Sixth, don't forget to torment his supporters before allowing them back in your good graces, but even then, remember their disloyalty at appropriate moments (forgive, don't forget).  Seventh, make certain that everyone knows that nothing happens without your approval, and that those minions who fail to show proper respect do so at their peril.


LITTLE LULU HAS GROWN BIG AND FAT.   MORE AND MORE CHOW DOWN ON HER.
 
Lulus. The Post goes after them in an article on page 14 of yesterday's Post by Carl Campanile.  This is the way big elected officials get to decide how much little elected officials (rookies, independents, members of other parties) get paid each year, and what compensation  their significant others will receive when the officials are eventually laid to rest.

Originally meant to cover payments made by committee chairs in pursuit of their duties (Lulu - payment in lieu of expenses), these stipends simply came to be additions to member's salaries.  The speaker has the power to move these payments up or down.  The Citizens Union has compiled a lulu list for the City Council for January 2004. Two councilmembers declined lulus this year, Manhattan's Eva Moskowitz and Queens' Tony Avella.  Two others took a voluntary reduction of 25 % (Speaker Gifford Miller and Brooklyn's Lewis Fidler.)

There have been changes since then, but you can't get that information by calling the Council staff.  They may be ashamed, ignorant or both.  Interestingly, the state legislative lulus are published on the state website, but without the names of the recipients. Perhaps they are shameless, or just obeying state law, or doing the right thing out of their desire to keep the public informed.  Who knows?      
 
In both the city council and state legislatures, there are lulus for so-called leadership positions, deputy and assistant majority and minority leader and whips, and in Albany, secretary of the majority conference and secretary of the minority conference.  Not all these positions are filled, but enough of them are to take care of those who find legislative salaries, plus expense accounts and travel allowances too limiting for the lifestyle they wish to maintain while they occupy public office.  Since lulus are pensionable, largesse in one's last years will last for two lifetimes.


NEWSDAY EDITORIAL MAKES IT UNANIMOUS
ALL FIVE DAILY PAPERS IN NEW YORK CITY
OPPOSE COUNCIL TRYING TO EXTEND TERMS
IN DEFIANCE OF TWO REFERENDA ON ISSUE.

Term limits.  Yesterday's Newsday kicks in with an editorial denouncing the City Council's current attempt to over-ride two referenda and extend their own terms.  They point out that when the limits took effect after the 2001 elections, it was no tragedy, and brought some fresh faces to the Council.  This is the same position that the Times, the News, the Post and the Sun have already taken. Such unanimity is relatively rare, since some newspapers are more liberal and others more conservative.  None of them, however, likes cheating.


OOPS,  THEY DID AGAIN!
SENATE, ASSEMBLY ADOPT LEGISLATIVE REFORM BILLS,
BUT THEY ARE NOT THE SAME, SO NOTHING IS PASSED.
SORRY ABOUT THAT, THEY'LL TRY AGAIN NEXT YEAR.      
 
The Times' Michael Cooper unloaded Monday on the annual charade the leaders have made out of legislative reform and control of lobbying.  As usual, each house passes a different set of reform bills, but none of them can become law.  However, the leaders can all show that their  houses voted for reform.  This time-honored process is one of Albany's sick jokes. The names of the players change, very slowly, over the years, but the game remains the same.  (Rule 23-X {X for excuse} We gave it everything we had.)

Last Thursday, Al Baker of the Times wrote a great story about how the two leaders had, at the last minute, derailed bills that they, or their employers, did not care for.  Cooper's long, perceptive and documented story tells how rules reform has been put to bed for the year, although it may be roused at the last minute if the leaders want to wrap themselves in the mantle of reform.


DAILY NEWS DECRIES DEMISE OF LOBBYING REFORM, RULES CHANGES,
SAYS SENATOR BRUNO IS HOLDING FARM WORKERS BILL IN PEONAGE.
 
The News had two editorials yesterday reflecting their disappointment with the state legislature and its leaders.  The first, 'COUNTING DOWN ON ALBANY CRACKDOWN,' describes how reform has been bottled up while the legislature rushes toward adjournment.  The second, 'BOSS BRUNO'S FARM,' deals with the substantive injustice which the Senate majority leader is allegedly inflicting on New York State farm workers:
 
"(Bruno), and he alone, is barring tens of thousands of the lowest-wage, hardest-working New Yorkers from fundamental labor fairness. The laborers are farmworkers.  They do not have the right in New York to bargain collectively, nor are they guaranteed at least ONE day off every week or overtime when they go beyond the eight-hour day...
 
"It makes no difference in the Republican-controlled Senate that the farmworker bill is sponsored by Republican Sen. John Flanagan of Long Island, or that a majority of the Republicans on the Labor Committee co-sponsored the measure, or that a majority of Republicans in the entire chamber are either co-sponsors or have pledged support.  All that matters is that Bruno refuses to give his blessing.  Consequently, the legislation has never even gotten a committee hearing, much less a vote.
 
"As for the Senate Democrats, they unanimously back the bill, guaranteeing passage if it ever came to the floor.  But, being in the minority, they have even less power than their GOP colleagues...Only Bruno counts in deciding the rights of people who work for little and certainly have no lobbyists.  And that's just wrong."
 
Watching to see if Bruno will soften his 76-year-old heart is like waiting to see whether the Pharaoh would release the slaves in Egypt.  It took ten plagues to convince the ancient tyrant to "let my people go."  Will it take divine intervention to persuade his modern majesty to go along with three-quarters of his own Senate colleagues and allow farm workers the chance to live with dignity and decency?