How many state senators does it take to humiliate New York?
That would be 62.
Yesterday was Day One of the series of “extraordinary” Senate sessions Gov. Paterson had vowed to convene until the chamber — which has been out to lunch since a GOP-led coup stalled out more than two weeks ago — gets back to “the people’s business.”
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But absent any power-sharing deal — and to no one’s great surprise — the “session” was a farce:
* Democrats, who got to the chamber first, briefly locked the doors to prevent Republicans from gaining access.
* Once the Republicans did arrive, both sides undertook rival sessions in the same room at the same time.
* Meanwhile, the utterly hapless Paterson admitted that he didn’t even know whether legislation passed in the session would be legally binding.
And things can always get worse.
Indeed, they likely will: The No. 1 issue on Paterson’s agenda for today’s session is gay marriage — the political equivalent of rolling a live hand grenade into the chamber, sans pin.
In truth, Albany’s been in a state of suspended animation since the Troopergate scandal permanently crippled then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s ability to govern two years ago.
But he and now-indicted-but-then-Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno were statesmen compared to the current crew.
Back in the real world, the state economy is a wreck, as the national recession is felt most acutely in what was once undisputedly the capital of global finance.
Upstate, which has been hurting for years, shows no sign of recovery.
Yet who would even think of investing in a state whose political institutions have broken down so fundamentally?
Obviously, responsibility for the current mess falls on many shoulders — including just about everyone in Albany who claims to be a “leader” — and no short-term solution was even in sight late yesterday.
But let’s be clear on one point: The long-term damage to New York — its institutions, its economy and its future — is palpable and profound.
The Empire State?
In your dreams.