Rogue Democrat Pedro Espada Jr., who collaborated with Republicans in a June 8 coup that toppled Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, is returning to the fold, sources said.
That will give Democrats a 32-30 majority and, ostensibly, allow the Senate to convene and vote on crucial legislation, like mayoral control of city schools and a city sales tax hike.
Under the deal, Malcolm Smith will be the Senate president, several senators said.
Espada (D-Bronx) and Democratic conference leader John Sampson will serve as co-majority leaders, they said.
Jesus wow.
UPDATE: Espada is scum, the Senate leaders suck, this has been a huge mess & massive waste of money... but the one silver lining here is that Tom Golisano can seriously, seriously suck it.
It is becoming more and more clear with each passing day that our competitive Democratic challenges to the 32 Republican held state senate seats has grown to the 12 to 14 seat range. A great deal of money will be needed to materialize many of these dozen or so challenges into Democratic pickups in November. Early in the cycle it seemed as though we would enjoy the advantage of former Governor Spitzer's fundraising prowess to foot the bill needed to do the job. Of late, it has become apparent that Governor David Paterson will not be bringing anything close to those resources to the table.
more after the flip
He hasn't even taken office yet, and already Eliot Spitzer is working his magic:
Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer stunned the state's political establishment yesterday when he announced he had crossed party lines to appoint state Sen. Michael Balboni, an influential Long Island Republican, as his homeland security czar.
Just some cabinet appointment, right? So what, you say? Not so slow:
What elevates Balboni as a master political stroke is that his seat has a great chance to go Democratic in an upcoming special election. The GOP recently lost every statewide race. With its Senate majority down to three seats - Balboni caved in to party pressure last year not to run for attorney general - the loss of his seat could hasten the fall of the state's last GOP bastion of power.
Republicans currently hold a slim 34-28 advantage in the state Senate. That means we need just three more seats to take control of the body. (The Lt. Gov., soon to be a Dem, gets to break ties.) If we can take Balboni's seat, then we'd only need two pickups (though more would be better, of course) before redistricting. And winning here is very possible.
New York's 7th state Senate district has a voter registration breakdown (PDF) of 38D-35R-23I, with minor parties making up the rest. A special election will likely take place soon, in February. (Because this is New York and everything has not yet changed on Day One, there won't be a primary.) Newsday offers up a list of names being considered by the establishment on both sides.
Undoubtedly the state GOP will throw everything it has into this race, since the Senate is its last remaining bastion. But the Dems will do the same, and given how unpopular Republicans have become of late throughout the state and especially on Long Island, this race may even tilt Dem ever so slightly.
