In a further example of the dysfunctional nature of the New York City and State Democratic Parties, the Democrat's recapture of the State's Senate (the only body not already held by them) has been thrown into question by four renegade Democratic Senators.
Seven years ago the Bronx Democratic machine threw the mayoral election to (then) Republican Michael Bloomberg rather than allow progressive Democrat Mark Green to win (they figured the Bronx Borough President Freddy Ferrer, who had just fallen to Green in a brutal primary, would have a better chance against a weak Bloomberg in 2005).
Now four Democratic State Senators are refusing to vote in the current Democratic minority leader as majority leader. -->
From the NY Times article:
Confusion broke out in the State Senate on Wednesday as four dissident Democrats refused to commit to backing a member of their own party for majority leader, throwing Democratic control into question just a day after the party captured a majority of the chamber’s seats.
What should have been a celebratory moment — the elevation of Senator Malcolm A. Smith to the majority leader’s post and an end to four decades of Republican dominance — was instead a somewhat humiliating one, as party leaders scrambled to unite Democratic members.
What's going on? Of the four people (all, I am ashamed to say, from New York City) threatening to jump ship, one is a nutcase who has supported and endorsed Republicans in the past, and accepted a committee chairmanship from former Republican majority leader, the as-yet-unindicted Joe Bruno.
The other three are Hispanic legislators who are concerned about leadership representation:
“There’s a concern that we have a black president, a black governor and we have a concern that we have to be sharing power,” said Mr. Díaz.
What the election of Barack Obama has to do with the New York State Senate is beyond me. Our black Governor is, of course, David Paterson, who ascended to the post following Eliot Spitzers sudden self-immolation earlier this year.
I've ranted here previously about the total dysfunction of the Democratic Party in New York City and the state. This dysfunction has given us four consecutive Republican mayoral wins, and probably a fifth coming up (notwithstanding the fact that I like the current guy, Bloomberg, and he's more liberal than the Democrats). It's given us the moribund "Boss" Shelly Silver as Democratic House leader.
This is racial identity politics at its worst. I don't know a lot about Malcolm Smith, the Senate minority leader. I suspect if I did I wouldn't like him all that much (he represents Queens, after all). But for heaven's sakes, everyone knew that if the Dems took back the Senate he'd be majority leader. Is this any time to blow the Dems chances because some folks think two statewide offices held by African Americans is too many?
At this point, I simply don't see anything good in the New York Democratic Party. Racial politics (a many-faceted beast, not just black / Hispanic rivalry) means we may never win the mayor's office again. But because we will, at least technically, control the state apparatus for decades to come there will be no impetus to remake the party.
Look for increasing paralysis in New York State politics.
A pyrrhic victory indeed.