By Henry J. Stern
December 5, 2005
 

New York State is said to be governed by three men in a room.  But war has broken out between two of them - both are Republicans, Governor Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Bruno.
 
In the latest confrontation, described by Fredric U. Dicker on page 17 of the Post, PATAKI SNUBS BRUNO BUDDY, the governor withdrew his nomination of a friend of Bruno, Dean Leith, for a position on the State Employment Relations Board, allegedly after the Senate confirmed Leith.  In retaliation, the Senate is apparently refusing to confirm any Pataki appointees until the matter is resolved.  As majority leader, Bruno rules.
 
This is all inside politics, and may not be of overwhelming interest to civilians.  But the anger between the lame-duck governor and the state senator trying to keep his majority is intense.  Even if a compromise is cobbled together, as the Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate worked out on judicial nominations last year, the State Senate in 2006 is more likely to work with the state assembly than it is with the outgoing Pataki, unless the spoils (long-term appointments to state boards and commissions) can be divided.

 The relationship between Pataki and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is based on mutual distaste.  Of the three men in a room, the two who are least acrimonious to each other are Bruno and Silver.  The public is faced with a menage a trois who would divorce each other if they could.  In the November election, Pataki and the anti-spending crowd defeated Bruno, Silver and the spenders who tried to shift power over the budget from the Executive Mansion to the Legislative Chambers.  We will see how these fractures affect government.  It will be harder to get things done; whether that is good or bad depends on what they are trying to do.  We hope for the best, fear the worst, and predict a last minute package of legislation put together to make everyone look good, probably overriding gubernatorial vetoes.

 
 
The tragic death of Police Officer Dillon Stewart, shot by a thug with a gun stolen six years ago in Florida, has stirred modest public interest in the effort to strengthen penalties for those who carry illegal guns, and to require more information sharing between federal and state and local law enforcement agencies.
 
In the Post, Chauncey Parker, Governor Pataki's appointee as State Director of Criminal Justice, goes after the Assembly for failing to pass law enforcement measures adopted by the State Senate.  Under the headline, SILVER'S SAD STALL - SPEAKER BOTTLES UP ANTI-GUN-TRAFFICKING REFORM, Parker, on p33, lists a number of bills that died in the Assembly in 2005.  The column is backed up by a classically fervid Post editorial, HOW MANY MORE MUST DIE?
 
Mayor Bloomberg contributed a column, on p9 of the Post, with the emotional headline, I WISH EVERY MEMBER OF CONGRESS HAD LOOKED INTO OFFICER STEWART'S WIFE'S EYES IN HOSPITAL.  In the column, the Mayor appeals to Congress and to the State Legislature to tighten gun control laws.  His wish for members of Congress is equally applicable to members of the New York State Assembly.  Gun penalties should be an easier sell in a Democratic Assembly than a Republican Congress where many members represent hunters and gunlovers.  Strangely, however, in Albany, it is the Democrats and not the Republicans who have pigeonholed bills on gun control and other law enforcement measures that were adopted by the Republican State Senate.
 
The Daily News waded into the subject aggressively with no fewer than three articles, an editorial, STRAIGHT SHOOTING, on p40, an op-ed piece on p41 summing up Federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein's opinion last week upholding the city's right to sue firearms makers.  The judge's words are well worth reading.  And a column by Stanley Crouch, headed: THIS KILLING REMINDS US COPS STAY WHEN OTHERS RUN considers the matter from the point of view of the police officers who risk their lives every day to protect us.  No one knows when a traffic stop will turn into a homicide.
 
It would be very enlightening to get Speaker Silver's view on the legislation that has languished before him.  It is important to know why the Pataki proposals for stronger gun control laws and penalties are unworthy of Assembly passage.  This is an issue that deserves to be debated publicly, and we invite the Speaker, his counsel, or any legislators who are opposed to the proposals (there must be some resistance to the legislation, otherwise the bills would have passed) to come forward and state their case.  Any response we receive will be brought promptly to the attention of our 14,000 readers.
 
The Federal aspect of the Stewart case was the subject of a Sunday Special by Senator Chuck Schumer.   A Saturday Night Special is police slang for a cheap handgun, a Sunday Special is a press conference on a slow news day, pioneered thirty years ago by former City Comptroller Jay Goldin, and turned into an art form by Senator Schumer.  The practice has been adopted, on an occasional basis, by a number of young and ambitious public officials including Congressman Anthony Weiner, Assemblyman (and Borough President elect) Scott Stringer, and State Senator Jeffrey Klein.  Although energetic, the trio have (has?) not yet shown the staying power of the master.  Time, however, is on their side.
 
A press conference yesterday (Sunday) at his New York City office led to this headline in the Sun: SCHUMER; POLICE SHOULD BE ABLE TO TRACK SOME GUNS.  Julia Levy wrote the story, in which the Senator said he would introduce legislation to allow New York City police officers to access information from the National Tracing Center of the Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau.  BTW, ATF (run-on acronyms) was transferred under the Homeland Security Act from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Justice.
 
The Post covered the story under the headline: CHUCK WANTS FEDS TO SHOOT STRAIGHT ON GUN DATA. They also ran an unusual-looking headcut of the senator on p9.
 
Schumer's proposal is enormously sensible and probably has little chance of success.  The gun lobby has been effective in weakening gun laws, due to strong feelings about the Second Amendment, particularly in red states but in some blue ones as well.  Schumer was joined in his press conference by the president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, Patrick Lynch.  Law enforcement agencies and their employees have been supporters of handgun control, and laws which would limit the sale of armor piercing bullets and AK-47s, which can be used against police officers.

Society would benefit if the death of Police Officer Dillon Stewart will lead to legislation that would reduce the likelihood of similar tragedies.  They could call it Dillon's Law.