A Coalition, not a Conference- Albany Times Union Blog, August 8, 2008

Capitol Confidential by Irene Jay Liu

This morning, a number of Senate Dems held a press conference (sponsored by Education Voters of New York) outside of the Senate Dems offices to discuss their opposition to the property tax cap - including Sens. Liz Krueger, Kevin Parker, Neil Breslin, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Tom Duane, and Eric Adams.

The event was supposed to be outside the Senate chamber, but it didn’t get that far. And though Senate Minority Spokesman Curtis Taylor announced that “this is not a Senate Democrats press conference,” he didn’t push them out of the hallway, either.

Krueger, Parker and Breslin had strong words for the Paterson/ Senate Republicans’ bill, calling it “pandering” and “politics.” Though they wouldn’t speak ill of the governor or their colleagues (particularly the marginal ones) who will vote for the tax cap, such strong language is striking, particularly since it could be applied to the Senate Dems who do vote for it. (Remember the Hillary movie that featured footage of Edwards and Obama criticizing her?)

Such vocal dissention in the conference is interesting, as one thinks about the future of the Senate if the Democrats take over. Republicans have made their ever-shrinking majority work because their conference members have toed the line.

The day’s press conference prompted one Senate Democratic staffer to say, with a sigh, “we’re a coalition, not a conference.”

Senate Dems offer a hostile amendment

Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, introduced a hostile amendment to Paterson’s property tax cap bill - Klein is proposing to include the Senate Dems’ own property tax cap plan - which would eliminate the STAR program and replace it with a circuit breaker. In his comments, Klein noted Republican Sen. Betty Little’s circuit breaker bill, which has been introduced by Sen. Betty Little.

Skelos replied, “I don’t think Governor Paterson has asked us to amend this bill.” He noted that by eliminating the STAR program, 833,000 would lose their STAR rebate, while 623,000 would receive a circuit breaker benefit. 1.5 million taxpayers receive STAR check in 2007.

Little spoke up, saying that she wasn’t in support of the Dems’ hostile amendment, but that she still was supportive of a circuit breaker bill in the future.