“We must demand that the Speaker of the New York State Assembly and the Majority Leader of the New York State Senate be replaced, because they have failed to fight for the reforms that we seek. The current leadership in Albany has had ample opportunity to heed the message of reform and address the problems New Yorkers face, but they have spent far more energy making backroom deals to protect their own majorities. ..New York belongs to the nearly twenty million people who call our State home, not to three men in a room in Albany. With Governor Pataki on his way out, it is time to show Majority Leader Bruno and Speaker Silver the door, as well.” ---- Tom Suozzi, speaking at a conference on government reform.

You wouldn’t think it would be hard for the Minority Leader of the State Senate to respond when questioned about this statement.  His answer would, of course, be concise and “on message”. “Of course, Joe Bruno should be replaced as Majority Lader. He should be replaced by a Democrat!”  A real Senate Democratic Leader would have learned long ago that he is not an insider, and not a part of the establishment, and that behaving like he is part of the powers that be is just enabling his conference’s continued subjugation. Unfortunately, it can be very tempting to shut up and sign onto the latest outrage for a few extra members items, but a Minority Leader should be working for change, not chump change.  Newt Gingrich understood this, and, because he understood what other did not, got to become the first Republican House Speaker in 40 years; perhaps the Senate Dems could bring him in as a motivational speaker; and if not Gingrich, maybe  Alec Baldwin, “First prize is you get to be one of the three men in the room; second prize is you’re fired.”  Instead, the Senate Democrats have a leader who seems content settling for the set of steak knives (those who are puzzled are referred to the film version of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross").

When asked about Suozzi’s statement, Senate Minority Leader David Paterson couldn’t articulate the  proper “on message” response he was obligated by his position to make. According to Capitol Confidential’s Liz Benjamin, Paterson is “still, for some reason, reluctant to take the fight  directly to Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno”; instead, he blurted out the words of an insider reluctant to disturb the existing arrangments. “I don’t know whether the change is that we need new leaders, or the change is legislation. I don’t know the answer to that”. You would have thought that by this time, Paterson would have figured out that the legislature needed at least one new leader. And, by his actions Paterson has proven this point. In order to change Albany, one leader must be replaced immediately: David Paterson. The only hope the Senate Democrats have to dump Joe Bruno is to dump David Paterson first.

By many measures, Paterson has been a decent leader. But, ever since being named Spitzer’s running mate, his passions have been elsewhere. Being Senate Minority Leader is about rocking the boat at every opportunity. Being a candidate for LG is about not making waves. The roles are just not compatible.

By rights, with a ticket headed by Spitzer (or Suozzi) running against “the Dean of Dogpatch College” or the the latest Albany revolving door bagman (followed on the ballot by a Senate race between Hillary and either “Mr. Lost His Condom in Yonkers” or “Henry Kissinger’s Piece with Honor” riding to the rescue in a black helicopter), this should be a banner year for Senate Democrats, but they’ve had trouble even fielding place-holder candidates in marginal districts. Is there any chance a Democrat could beat Marty Golden, even in a year like this one? Probably  not; but the failure to have any candidate at all means that if Marty Golden gets hit by a bus in September, the Democrats won’t have a candidate at all, and a new Republican will slip in unopposed, and obtain two years of incumbency without a contest. Even if a 2008 victory is the real objective, rather than the lame excuse given when such matters are raised, that goal requires plenty of foreplay, and these guys haven't even made eye contact yet. Plus, they could always get lucky, but you gotta be in it to win it; you ain't gonna make any surprise pick-ups if you stay home instead of going belly to the bar. You can't pull a surprise if you don't have a candidate.  

Prior Senate leaders usually understood such things; but, prior leaders weren’t busy running for LG and day dreaming about being appointed to the US Senate when Hillary went to the White House.

How is it that the Senate is Republican and the Assembly Democratic? In 1974, the year of the Nixon resignation, Republicans held both houses, but the legislature was ripe for the taking. The Assembly Minority Leader, Stanley Steingut, worked like a dog to take the Assembly, and the Democrats, using the advantages of incumbency, have held it ever since. But, in the Senate, the Democratic Leader, Joe Zaretzki, lost his primary, and spent the autumn sulking, while the other heavyweights in his conference concentrated on maneuvering for his leadership rather than upon winning elections; as a result, the Republicans held onto their majority, and using the advantages of incumbency, have kept it ever since. The lesson: in a crucial year, if your leader is a lame duck, your chances of victory are probably a dead duck.     

A Senate Democratic Leader should be obsessed with using this year as an opportunity for guerilla warfare and catching the enemy by surprise.  It should consume him night and day. Instead, the current Senate Democratic Leader is obsessed with keeping a low enough profile until November to avoid being dumped from the ticket. David Paterson is not the leader the Senate Democrats need this year. David Paterson may be one of New York’s most promising statesmen, but the only thing he should be promising his colleagues is that he will resign once he is designated for LG at the party’s State Convention.