New York Senate Turmoil Persists

ALBANY (AP) - Both sides declared victory Tuesday in the standoff over New York's Senate after a court refused to invalidate last week's power grab by Republicans and two dissident Democrats, leaving the chamber more gridlocked than when the standoff began.

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On Tuesday, New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas McNamara dismissed the Democratic conference's case, which sought to invalidate a June 8 vote by the mostly Republican coalition to take power of the chamber. McNamara didn't identify who should lead the Senate, saying it's improper for the court to get involved with the legislative branch of government. He advised the Senate to resolve the issue.

"The failure of the Senate to resolve this issue in an appropriate manner will make them answerable to the electorate," he said.

Democrats refused to appeal, saying they want to negotiate a political solution with Republicans instead. They offered a six-point plan to share power.

"The Senate Democratic Conference wants to get back to doing the people's work, but the Senate Republicans are more interested in continuing their desperate attempt at a political power grab," said Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson of Brooklyn.

But Republicans, in a coalition with a dissident Democrat, said the court action dismissed the Democrats' challenge and leaves them in charge. The coalition refused to negotiate a power sharing agreement. They said Democrats can continue to boycott Senate action — at their own political risk.

"Now we're calling all senators to report to work," said Bronx Sen. Pedro Espada, the only Democrat in the coalition. "We need them to act. We ask them to honor not just the court decision ... but their sworn oath."

No matter whose argument prevails, the victims will be New York taxpayers, who could wind up bearing the expensive burden of unbalanced local budgets when sales tax and other bills aren't passed for local governments statewide, including New York City.

"It is now a 31-31 deadlock with no judicial intervention to decide and apparently the executive will not be able to decide it," said Barbara Bartoletti of the League of Women Voters. "The longer it takes them, the more backlash there will be for both sides."

"By the end of the month, things will really start to fall apart," she said. "It's going to have an impact on daily lives."

She said the Senate is jeopardizing laws that will lapse at the end of the month — including mayoral control of New York City schools, credited by many as improving student performance.

The coalition said it will continue to hold session, even if it is unable to pass bills because of a 31-31 split between Democrats on one side, and the coalition of 30 Republicans plus Espada on the other.

"If there is gridlock, it's going to be on their part," said Sen. Dean Skelos, a Nassau County Republican who holds the No. 2 job in the coalition power structure.

Last week Republicans joined with two dissident Democrats in the coalition to seize control of the Senate, but one of the defectors returned to the Democratic fold this week. Now both sides refuse to budge on who the leader of the Senate is.

Republicans claim last week's vote electing Espada to temporary president of the Senate and Skelos to majority leader holds. Since then the coalition has gaveled in three times, not passing any legislation, but noting what wasn't getting accomplished without the cooperation of the Democrats.

Democrats claim that the initial vote was illegal because they gaveled out — although without the required chamber vote to do so. They hold that Sen. Malcolm Smith Senate, of Queens, is the majority leader, although he appears to have ceded power to Sampson. Democrats claim that work isn't getting done because Republicans refuse to negotiate a power-sharing agreement with them.

A new question is who would succeed New York Gov. David Paterson if he left the state or leaves office. A judge had put a temporary restraining order on that decision, prohibiting Espada from being next in line, but that order expired Tuesday.

But it's also a problem for the Democrats: Smith remains the majority leader, in title, but the Democratic conference appears to have deposed him of most of those duties now that Sampson has the newly created job of conference leader.

Paterson, a Democrat, suggested that he or another independent official, such as former Chief Judge Judith Kaye or Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, could run the session to handle noncontroversial but pressing issues including the authorization of taxes for New York City and local governments. Paterson said both sides would agree that if they accept this temporary situation, the measure won't be used in any ongoing court cases.

"They may not be aware of how devastating this is to Albany's already tarnished image," Paterson told The Associated Press. "But I would think this would be a tremendous gesture on both sides to put their parties' struggle and the leadership struggle aside."

Associated Press Writer Michael Gormley in Albany contributed to this report.