Malcolm Smith never saw it coming.
Just five-plus months after being named majority leader of the state Senate, the Queens Democrat yesterday fell victim to a legislative coup that saw former Majority Leader Dean Skelos reinstalled in that spot.
Smith, among other mistakes, had relied on the integrity of four sketchy Democratic senators whom he had showered with favors in order to win control of the Senate chamber last winter.
But yesterday, at least two of them — Hiram Monserrate, under felony indictment for slashing his girlfriend’s face, and Pedro Espada Jr., a target of an investigation by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo — refused to stay bought.
Monserrate and Espada joined with Republicans in an apparently successful effort to install Skelos as majority leader and Espada as president pro tem — and next in line of succession to Gov. Paterson.
Light a candle for Paterson, please.
For New York, also.
Not that Smith didn’t richly deserve the ouster.
Joining forces with morally malleable folks like Monserrate, Esapada and the two other so-called “Gang of Four” Democratic senators — Carl Kruger and Ruben Diaz Sr. — was to invite disaster.
Now Skelos appears proudly to be doing business with the quartet.
Talk about bottom-feeding. Indeed, we shudder to imagine the promises Skelos made to engineer the coup, which apparently was a month in the making.
Even so, its success is not guaranteed.
Smith reportedly was lawyered up and promising litigation last night, while Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said in a statement that he is “working to ensure that Democrats retain control of the New York State Senate.”
CLUELESS LEADERSHIP DIDN’T SEE IT COMING
(Paterson, in case you’re wondering, played his part, too: He was informed of the coup after the fact — and in a late-evening press conference said he would continue to recognize Smith as majority leader.)
Politics aside, is all of this good news for New Yorkers?
Well, the coup was itself final proof — as if any was needed — that Smith couldn’t lead the Senate in any constructive direction.
Or in any direction, for that matter: New Yorkers can rejoice in his departure, if that turns out to be the case.
Whether Skelos represents positive change remains to be seen.
First, there is the matter of the above-mentioned deals he must have made to foment the coup.
Certainly, the Republicans under former Majority Leader Joe Bruno — who himself is under indictment — had scant more honor than the Democrats, having made endless corrupt bargains just to hang onto power.
But New Yorkers know that lawmakers from both parties invariably put their own interests over those of their constituents. Whoever winds up in charge, New Yorkers generally lose.
Will it be different this time?
There’s no reason to think so.