"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have"
Thomas Jefferson

Monday, November 17, 2008

Gang of Three

The Gang of Three holds tight to coalition that could dash the hopes of Malcolm Smith and the Democrats controlling the majority of the New York State Senate. There is much talk of the Gang of Three supporting a Republican for leader, which they deny, but they could vote for another Democrat and not betray their party and default a Republican to leader.

Correct, they could nominate one of their own, such as Pedro Espada, for majority leader and the vote could come down to 30-29-3 with a Republican victor.

A simple majority of legislators present, provided a quorum, is necessary to elect a leader.

In this case, a quorum is 32 members, so the minimum votes needed to elect a leader are 17. Therefore, a 30-29-3 vote would be valid.

It appears the Democrats will have to have Malcolm Smith exit stage left while Jeff Klein enters stage right to possibly keep these three happy. The three will not support Skelos either, therefore the possible new brew for leader is between Klein and Senator Tom Libous.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

DF is right! There is no room for diversity or differences of opinion in the Democratic Party! Toe the line or move on! Voters didn't elect you to represent them and the interests of their families, but rather the liberal agendas of our financial supporters and fellow travelers.

Sweep them -- and the very last stitch of truly representative democracy -- right out of Albany!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely. These guys have to wake up a vote the party line. Don't these guys understand mob mentality. This is no time for independent thinkers. We don't need statesmen, we need those who will buckle under to the majority regardless of what's right. (Or, if you hold out, make sure you cut yourself a good deal to come back to the fold. Just like a good Democrat.)

On a similar note, Ted Kennedy is looking for carpool partners.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely. These guys have to wake up a vote the party line. Don't these guys understand mob mentality. This is no time for independent thinkers. We don't need statesmen, we need those who will buckle under to the majority regardless of what's right. (Or, if you hold out, make sure you cut yourself a good deal to come back to the fold. Just like a good Democrat.)

On a similar note, Ted Kennedy is looking for carpool partners.

Danny M. Francis (Eyepublius) said...

It's not a matter of "party line, or toe-the-line, or party first," not all all - you misrepresent my view...

A lot of people cross party lines and support good policies and regs that benefit the general populace - the way it should be.

But, winning on one party line and wanting to stay in power by supporting the other party "leaders," a totally different matter as far as I'm concerned.

You are mixing apples and oranges seeking to make grape juice.

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