In N.Y., political chaos reigns
As coalitions fray, parties reel amid lack of leadership
NEW YORK - As New York's governor, David A. Paterson might be expected to act as the leader of his party. But when two renegade Democrats handed control of the State Senate to the Republicans, he said there was little he could do but vent.
"I have no way to actually dictate the process, other than to use this forum to express my feelings about it," said Paterson, the Democrat who became governor when Eliot Spitzer left office in disgrace and whose low poll numbers have left him with little influence over lawmakers.
Last week's coup in the Senate may signal the final breakdown of New York's long-declining political order. Even veterans of New York's rough-and-tumble political scene seemed shocked at the revolt, which left the balance of state power in the hands of two freshman senators, Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monserrate, and a rogue billionaire, Tom Golisano, who helped organize their defection.
That weakness has been reflected from Buffalo to Brooklyn, as old political coalitions fray and the once-powerful party organizations decay. Three of the state's senior posts - governor, US senator, and comptroller - are filled by unelected figures who are either politically unpopular or unknown to many voters.
The Democratic Party is dominant here, but it lacks a strong central figure with the stature, authority, or will to impose discipline. The Republican Party is cohesive, but shrinking.
The result, some say, is a virtual free-for-all of opportunism and self-dealing.
"It's like feudal Japan," said Blair Horner, the legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "There's a weak emperor and strong warlords."
"I don't think we've ever seen a time where the parties were so weak and the Democratic Party was so factionalized," said George Arzt, a Democratic consultant. "Even with its huge plurality, it's still not in charge. There is no monumental figure today."
Paterson, a former Senate minority leader, has limited tools to keep rank-and-filers in line. The budget squeeze has left few goodies for him to dole out to favored lawmakers, and his dismal poll numbers make any threat of retaliation against those who defy him seem empty.
Other prominent Democrats appear unwilling or unable to play party leader.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is the undisputed master of the legislative process in Albany but has limited power to impose party discipline beyond his own chamber. The state's most popular elected official, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, is feared and respected. But Cuomo, who may challenge Paterson in a primary next year, has little to gain by asserting himself now, and must tread carefully, given that his office may be drawn into the legal battle over the Senate coup.
The state's senior US senator, Charles E. Schumer, has largely resisted becoming bogged down in more local power struggles.
At the end of last week, Espada, the Senate's new president, led Republicans in producing a key to force their way into the chamber, which had been locked by the Democrats.
"I think we're seeing a meltdown," said Edward I. Koch, the former New York mayor.
He added, "I believe it's not only disgraceful, but it makes New York look like a banana republic."
