The circus came to town last night, and Mayor Bloomberg, dubbing government the “second greatest show on earth,” couldn’t help tossing a zinger at New York’s do-nothing Senate.
“Nothing comes close to the circus — not even Albany,” the mayor deadpanned.
The crack triggered an appreciative roar from the Coney Island crowd at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
But it was all somber business earlier upstate when it came to something the Senate could agree upon: a way to keep getting paid.
Gov. Paterson mocked senators of both parties through a spokeswoman after revealing that legislative leaders had signed off on senators’ and staffers’ payrolls immediately after a Republican coup brought Senate business to a halt on June 8.
One certification was signed on June 9 by Democrats, and another on June 10 by Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-LI) and defecting Democratic Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. (D-Bronx).
The documents allow senators and staff to get paid, despite the dispute.
“There is a power-sharing agreement, but it only includes getting paid,” said Paterson spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein.
“If the leadership of the Senate can agree on a way to keep getting paid, they can reach an agreement to get back to work for the people of New York.”
John McArdle, a spokesman for Skelos, insisted, “We didn’t agree to anything.”
In another development, Espada said automated, recorded “robo” phone calls were telling New Yorkers in predominantly white districts that their white Republican senators were consorting with a “criminal.”
The calls said Espada is under indictment. He isn’t, but was indicted in 1998 on campaign-finance charges that were dismissed.
Also yesterday, Espada and another Bronx lawmaker nearly came to blows in a tense, closed-door meeting during which attempts to end the circus-like Senate stalemate failed.
Tempers flared between Republican-backed Senate President Espada and a fellow Bronx Democrat, Sen. Jeffrey Klein, during a parley in which Democrats appeared to keep one of their upstate members from defecting to the Republican side and breaking the standoff.
The meeting was called after Conservative Democrat Darrel Aubertine of Watertown reportedly told GOP leaders he was willing to provide the one vote needed to allow Republicans to convene. Aubertine eventually decided not to bolt. With AP