I Can Has Ultimate Power?
I truly hope that our younger readers have been following the Shakespearean comedy that is the New York State Senate power struggle. It’s a beautiful, textbook-worthy lesson in how state government works – IT DOESN’T.
Let me break down the problem in simple terms. Basically, the Democrats were in charge, because they had a 32-30 seat advantage. Then, one day, Senator Pedro Espada suddenly bolted from the party along with Senator Hiram Monserrate, theoretically giving a Republican-led coalition a 32-30 seat majority, and thus switching control of the Senate, with Espada the new Senate Majority Leader. Democrats pitched a fit, and locked the chamber doors. During the chaos, Monserrate had a change of heart and switched back, creating a 31-31 tie. Apparently, that means that no one now has control of the Senate, and with Democrats refusing to show up, the state government is closed for business.
The real dilemma, for New Yorkers, is what this says about our government. How is it a logical leap from “There are equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats” to “WE HAVE NO GOVERNMENT!!!!”
The situation has gotten so bad that the New York Post, beacon of journalistic excellence, made its own meaningful contribution to the crisis: it hired Sunny the Clown to stand around the State Capitol and mock lawmakers.
Thankfully, Senator Espada has proposed a brilliant, gracious, humble solution: give him two votes. Espada (and his Republican allies) argue that, with no lieutenant governor to break ties, he as president pro tempore of the Senate is also acting lieutenant governor, and gets to vote as lieutenant governor AS WELL AS state senator. Such a suggestion may seem a bit like a power grab, but let’s remember that arbitrarily assigning people extra power always works out well. It really reminds me of the old adage:
“Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Arbitrary power corrupts arbitrarily.”
Espada is, as you might guess, the perfect, upstanding citizen to be given twice as much power as any other elected representative in the state. His accused hobbies include:
- not filing 41 campaign finance reports, which make impossible to know how he raises, or spends, campaign funds
- using a nonprofit as a personal piggy bank for campaigning
- creating two new nonprofits to bring in even more taxpayer money
- not actually living in the Bronx district he represents, but instead in wealthy Mamaroneck in Westchester County
Yes, New York State’s future is truly bright. It goes to show that in a game as ridiculous as state politics, something as simple as a tie is enough to bring everything to a halt. Perhaps baseball isn’t our only national pasttime, after all…
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Ben Theodor tried to tame the blogging beast within by murdering his former blog, Change We Voted For, in cold blood (his first attempt, Election Day Countdown, expired due to natural causes). However, like so many cheap horror movie villains, Ben's sarcasm simply couldn't be kept down, and has found a permanent home here at BOTO. Read more.
