New York Senators Are Committing a Crime
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.
CBS 2 Political Analyst

The New York Post is having a field day with the craziness going on in Albany.  Every day, they run cartoons depicting members of the dysfunctional New York State Senate as clowns, playing out the metaphor of a circus going on in the State House with no one in charge and no prospects of anyone being in charge anytime soon. 

But it’s well beyond a circus at this point.  It’s a lot worse than a bad joke.  What’s happening in the Senate in New York State is an absolute crime.  It’s no longer simply about who is going to be in control, the Democrats or Republicans.  It’s about the fact that if anything happens to Governor David Patterson, it is unclear who is next in line to be the chief executive in New York State.  It’s about the fact that a law passed in Albany a few years ago turning over the New York City public schools to its mayor has the potential to set New York City schools back decades in terms of student achievement and organizational stability. 

But the worst part about what is going on in New York State is that by all indications, Senators of both parties don’t seem to care very much.  They don’t feel threatened in any way by Governor Paterson, who says that Senators shouldn’t be paid, and that he plans on withholding funding for legislative pet projects until this crisis is resolved. 

Yet, Senators from both sides of the aisle scoff at the governor.  They see him as weak, politically impotent, and frankly, pretty much of a non-entity in state politics.  And you can bet that former New York City Mayor and failed presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is going to say if he were in charge, if he were governor, none of this absurdity would happen under his watch.  You can expect Democrat Andrew Cuomo to say that same thing when he inevitably takes the plunge and runs for governor. 

One last thing- Senators in New York have to get their house in order in a rush.  They are convinced that the majority of New York voters don’t give a damn.  Oh yea, they’ll say they’re angry and that they are embarrassed by the actions, but the reality is, well over 90% of Senate incumbents get re-elected, no matter what they do.  Senators are convinced (and unfortunately I’m convinced) they are right, that most voters are going to vote for their incumbent Senator regardless of the fact that they have taken about a month off from work for no legitimate reason, and have no prospects of going back anytime soon.  When politicians think voters don’t care enough to throw them out and make a change, they become more arrogant than ever. 

Well that’s the bottom line in Albany these days; most Senators think there’s absolutely no consequences for their bad behavior, and as long as that’s the way they see it, things are only going to get worse.  Like I said, it’s a lot worse than an embarrassment or a circus.  It’s a crime.  It’s just a shame that no one is going to be prosecuted in all this.

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