By Jeremy Walsh
Queens once again took center stage in the protracted struggle for leadership of the state Senate as Democrats tried to pass legislation with the appearance of state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) in the chamber. But Padavan and other Republicans said the Queens senator was not present for the votes held Tuesday afternoon.
Padavan said he passed through the chamber for a few seconds on his way to the Senate lounge after he was blocked by a group of reporters outside, claiming he was only there for a few seconds and should not have been marked present. His participation could have created a majority in the Senate, where the Democrats and the Republicans have been divided 31-31. No Republicans showed up for the Tuesday afternoon session.
“You either go up to the desk of the clerk and mark yourself present or you get the attention of the clerk,” Padavan said. “I was not present during those votes, but [the Democrats] decided to take a gamble and it’s fraudulent and childish.”
Shams Tarek, a spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, attacked Padavan’s logic.
“When you’re standing there, you’re present,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what your intention is or what’s for lunch. He had a chance to lay the bills aside. He had a chance to clock himself out.”
The Senate has been deadlocked since Republicans attempted to oust Democrats from the majority leadership nearly a month ago. The chances that crucial bills — including extending mayoral control of city schools and approving an increase in the city’s sales tax to balance the municipal budget — would be passed by the end of the fiscal year Tuesday at midnight dimmed as the two sides refused to meet together even to pass noncontroversial bills.
Word that Senate Democrats were holding a session with Padavan reached the ears of Gov. David Paterson shortly before 1 p.m., prompting a news conference buoyed by the kind of optimism not seen from the increasingly aggravated governor since before the June 8 coup.
But Paterson changed his tune minutes later when Padavan called to dispute the news, then refused to sign any bills from the session and ordered the Senate back into a 7 p.m. extraordinary session.
“Once again, the do-nothing Senate has exceeded our greatest fears and contempt,” Paterson said. “They have disrespected the public for three weeks even after a court decision.”
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in a live video feed piped into Paterson’s news conference, urged citizens to contact their state legislators and pressure them to act.
“Tell them that coming home tonight without a vote on the school governance bill from all 62 senators is not acceptable and will not be forgotten,” the mayor said. “Remind them that when they were elected, they didn’t promise to do the people’s business only when their party was in power.”
Paterson has said if left unpassed, the bills would cost local municipalities in the state $1.9 billion in revenues. Delaying approval of the city’s sales tax hike would cost $60 million for the month of July, Bloomberg said.
It was not immediately clear how effective Paterson’s and Bloomberg’s calls for constituents to contact their elected officials had been. State Sen. Toby Stavisky’s (D-Whitestone) office said staff had been receiving calls regularly since the coup began.
Damaris Mone, spokeswoman for state Assemblyman Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights), said his office had been picketed by a community group demanding his help in getting rogue Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-East Elmhurst) to return to the Democratic caucus before the senator returned on his own, but few calls had been received in recent days.
Howard Koplowitz and Stephen Stirling contributed to this article.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jewalsh@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
