The Hidden Agendas of the Albany Shutdown: Mayor Mike Gets a Hot Calzone While Lobbyists Derail Democratic Reform

The Village Voice's Tom Robbins explains why the situation in Albany isn't "dysfunction" or "chaos" that simply happened -- no, it is the result of an intentionally engineered plan, pushed by lobbyists and funded by billionaire Thomas Golisano, that is purposely designed to derail the reform agenda of the new Democratic majority in Albany. Unfortunately, the majority proved too slim and easy to topple. Details here from the Voice journalist Tom Robbins that will help to make some sense of what's happening up along the Northway and its continuing impact on renters, gun control, NYS health care issues and more.

-Brooklyn Beat

Tom Robbins, July 1, 2009, Village Voice:

The tabloid version of the Great Senate Stalemate of 2009 goes something like this: Those bozos in the State Senate—who can't be trusted even on a good day to get their lunch orders straight—brought the people's business to a screeching halt over a petty internal dispute about who got to wield the gavel at meetings.

There is just enough of a patina of truth to this comic-book description of the Albany shutdown to convince a lot of otherwise sensible citizens to lather up in rage. After all, this is the same corps of elected officials that has managed to incur a higher rate of criminal indictment than many of New York's toughest neighborhoods. Who were these dolts? How dare they pose as leaders? Throw them all the hell out.

Naturally, the biggest promoter of this tale is the New York Post, which quickly dubbed the standoff a circus and then gleefully provided a clown to wander the capitol halls. The Daily News also got into the act, firing up its readers with its "Don't Pay the Bums" campaign. In these accounts, the fact that there are hugely important stakes for everyday New Yorkers in the outcome of the Senate fight is barely mentioned. Nor is the embarrassing truth that what transpired in Albany in the past month is the local version of a banana republic coup. In this case, the conspiring generals were lobbyists and one very power-hungry billionaire, Tom Golisano. Their goal was no different from that of those democracy-fearing Iranian mullahs: to overturn the results of a popular election.


Read Tom Robbins' excellent full article from the Village Voice here:

http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-07-01/columns/senate-coup-plotters-hidden-agenda/

Also, the NY Post's Fred Dicker on what goes around, comes around: If revenge is a dish served cold by people of taste, well Mayor Mike must feel like he has been fed a hot calzone straight from the oven by the Dems in Albany:

NY Post's Fred Dicker here shows why payback is a *%^$#... but Mayor Mike'll never learn:

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nypost.com%2Fseven%2F07022009%2Fnews%2Fcolumnists%2Fits_dem_payback_vs__mayor_177147.htm