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Dems call for shared power
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By Mary Dempsey
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Photo by Mary Dempsey
Westchester County Legislator Michael Kaplowitz, D-4, right, and Peekskill Mayor Mary Foster speak out June 30 in front of the county Department of Social Services building in Peekskill.
PEEKSKILL – Frustrated over the battle for power between Republicans and Democrats resulting in the complete shutdown of business in the state Senate, officials came out Tuesday demanding changes in Albany.
Democrats Westchester County Legislator Michael Kaplowitz, D-4, Peekskill Mayor Mary Foster and Dominick Volpe, who is running for county Legislator George Oros’ seat in November, spoke out Tuesday in front of the county Department of Social Services building in Peekskill.
“They need to share the power, 31-31, in Albany,” Kaplowitz said. “Rotate the leadership, if you must.”
Three weeks ago Republicans led a coup in the Senate where two Democrats crossed party lines to take the Senate majority away from the Democrats and gave it to the GOP. Days later, one of the defecting Democrats toed the party line, which resulted in the Senate deadlocked at 31 Democrats and 31 Republicans. The tie has further resulted in both parties claiming Senate leadership, and neither willing to legislate unless their party is in power.
Although Republican senators have been ordered by a judge into a special session called by Gov. David Patterson to vote on legislation that was set to expire at midnight on Tuesday, June 30, the GOP has appealed the judge’s order.
The three Westchester officials addressed the unfolding drama in Albany.
“There is a power vacuum in Albany and we are paying for it,” Kaplowitz said. “This is not a partisan issue. It’s a good government issue.”
Failure by the Senate to pass the sales tax extender could result in the county losing $180 million, resulting in a 16 percent increase in county taxes and a double-digit increase in school and local taxes, Kaplowitz said. Other legislative measures needing approval have put millions of dollars for communities at risk as the state Senate remains at a stalemate.
“That’s money that’s never going to come back to us,” Volpe said. “These senators have shown that they have no honesty and integrity, and their only commitment is to keeping their jobs. They are all looking for power.”
Kaplowitz, Foster and Volpe called on the state senators to get back to work and legislate.
“They (the Senate) has failed at every level,” Kaplowitz said. “They need to share power and Sen. [Vincent] Leibell (R/C-40) has been silent through all of this. He has been completely quiet and he is one of the 62 links in the Senate and he needs his voice to be heard. The games are enough.”
Liebell said he is in Albany with his fists flying, working every day.
“I have been loud and I have been vocal. I’m angry and mad as hell over what is happening,” Liebell said. “I’m working in Albany every day. I’ve been home two days in the past three weeks.”
Liebell said the Democratic senators in Albany are split into many factions without one leader.
“I’d like to ask Mike to reach out to my four Democratic collegaues on the floor of the Senate [Sens. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-35, Suzi Oppenheimer, D-37, Jeffrey Klein, D-34 and Ruth Hassell-Thompson, D36] to do something,” Leibell said.
The inaction in Albany has stalled proposed commercial assessment ratio changes in Peekskill, Foster said.
“They [the Senate] are affecting our assessment rolls,” Foster said. “They are out of touch with what the local municipalities have to do. You feel like you are working alone when you don’t have Albany working for you. I’m embarrassed because we don’t have a government that works.”
Kaplowitz proposes changes to the state government, including a Constitutional amendment appointing a lieutenant governor who would break any tie votes in the Senate. The state has been running without a lieutenant governor since Paterson took over the governor’s position when former Gov. Eliot Spitzer left office in 2008 after being implicated in a prostitution sting.
In addition, Kaplowitz said senators should not be paid when they do not work.
“If they don’t work, then there should be no pay,” he said. “If you don’t do your business then you don’t get paid.”
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