And I don't just mean a Democratic takeover. That is significant enough, given that the New York State Senate has been controlled by Democrats for only one year out of the last 70. One should not think that this will result in substantial increases in government funding for programs of interest to progressives; the state is broke and the New York Senate Republican majority were never fiscal conservatives. And one should not expect that having control of congressional redistricting will make much difference; Republicans have been doing so badly in recent years that there isn't much more opportunity to optimize districts.
The real story here is how the body will operate under Democratic control. But first, a little history:
Consider what happened the last time that Democrats controlled the New York Senate. Joseph Zaretzki of the Bronx was elected Majority Leader, but it was bloody!
In 1965, the Democratic Party achieved for the only time since 1939 a majority in the State Senate, but the Democratic senators were divided in two factions, 15 senators allied with Mayor of New York City Robert F. Wagner, Jr., and 18 senators allied with U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy. After a month of deadlock, Zaretzki - the long-time Minority Leader and Wagner's candidate - was elected Majority Leader on February 3 with the votes of the Wagner men and the Republicans who had voted for Earl W. Brydges, but were urged by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller to end the deadlock.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Court-ordered redistricting forced a special election for the entire Senate in 1965. The voters were so impressed with the Democratic infighting that the Democrats lost their majority. It looked like Democratic infighting might have cost the majority even more quickly this time:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/...
But everything came together at the last minute:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
And the first thing the new Democratic majority did was to make the place more, er, democratic:
The state Senate recently passed a new set of rules that end the majority leader’s almost exclusive control of what does and does not come to the floor for a vote. Now committees can force a bill to the floor of the Senate as a whole. Senators can now also amend a bill without the sponsor’s say-so.
http://riverdalepress.com/...
Sen. Malcolm Smith, the new Majority Leader, had promised to do this and he succeeded. This is a complete departure to the way the body had been run from time immemorial. Previously, everything was worked out by the Senate Majority Leader (most recently, Republican Dean Skelos) in cooperation with the governor and the Assembly Speaker (since 1994, Democrat Sheldon Silver) and floor votes were pro forma. The last meaningful floor vote was on the state's Gay Rights law, and that was back in 2002! This actually means surrendering some power. From the same link as above:
The great irony is that after achieving the power to make those changes after years of Republican control, the Democrats are giving the new Republican minority tools to stymie their legislation yet again.
It quotes Sen. Jeff Klein, the Deputy Majority Leader (for the record, he is my Senator):
We also have hostile amendments, which are now recorded votes," Mr. Klein explained. "The way it used to work ... it was never a recorded vote. The Republicans would usually leave.
I think this is the right way to go. If our side doesn't have the votes, lets work to change minds -- or have voters change the people! Furthermore, real votes that mean something means that neither Democrats nor Republicans can hide anymore.
Several Senators from my home county are now in positions of power. And they can do some good. In addition to Sen. Klein, above, Sen. Eric Schneiderman, an opponent of both the death penalty and New York's draconian drug laws
is now chairman of the Committee on Codes — one of those cryptically-named legislative animals whose purpose is unclear to many.
But not to Mr. Schneiderman, who is a bit of a wonk.
The committee oversees "everything to do with criminal and civil justice, civil procedure, really anything that has to do with penalties or sanctions or fines," he explained.
"There are decades of records from this committee that we have to look into," he added.
Mr. Schneiderman said he’d have a staff of up to eight or nine people once he moves into his new office. It’s unclear when the Republicans will leave the majority offices. Since they have over four decades of GOP interior decorating to pack up, it may take a while.
This can not be anything other than good.
And Sen. Ruben Diaz, trashed here at Dailykos for his willingness to talk with the Republicans, is now the chair of the Senate Committee on Aging. He has an agenda, too:
In a Tuesday mass e-mail, Mr. Diaz listed assisted- living regulations, preventing budget cuts and a bill that would allow the state to make bulk purchases of prescription drugs from Canada for seniors, as items he would immediately bring to his committee.
Not exactly a Republican agenda!
May the Democratic majority do good work and last a long time!!!