Politics on the Hudson

Chaos is expected to resume at the state Capitol today as a state Supreme Court judge will rule whether last week’s Senate coup was legal and as a dissident Democrat will rejoin his party’s conference, putting the chamber into further gridlock.

A judge will rule whether Senate Republicans and two rogue Democrats legally voted out the Democratic majority last Monday. Democrats claim the vote to oust Sen. Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, as majority leader was illegal.

The confusion will not end there, though. Sen. Hiram Monserrate, D-Queens, will rejoin Democratic conference today after breaking from his party last week with Sen. Pedro Espada, D-Bronx, to vote out the Democrats.

Espada told Gannett News Service this morning that he spoke with Monserrate and Monserrate is willing to sign an affidavit that last Monday’s vote was legal. But Espada said Monserrate did confirm that he’s rejoining the Democratic conference because Smith is expected to step aside as the conference’s leader and Monserrate was unable to lure more Democrats into the new majority.

“It doesn’t undo anything that happened Monday,” Espada said.

Monserrate told the New York Daily News Sunday that he’s returning to the Democratic conference, which would leave the Senate divided at 31-31.

But Espada said the Senate will not be at a stalemate.

“I totally disagree with the 31-31 scenario,” he said. “Do we really think we’ll have a 31-31 Senate with a same-sex (marriage) bill on the floor or a school governance bill on the floor? I think there’s a host of issues that we’ll be taking on after today is said and done that don’t break down by party lines.”

Democrats, in preparing for Monserrate’s return which had been expected for days, have discussed having a power-sharing agreement with Republicans. Yet if the court rules in the Republicans’ favor, Republicans have contended that Espada would be the temporary Senate president and have the ability to break any tie vote.

Normally, the state’s lieutenant governor would break any tie vote in the Senate. But that position has been vacant since David Paterson replaced disgraced Gov. Eliot Spitzer in March 2008.

Monserrate, according to Democratic senators, had rejected a return to the Democratic conference if Smith was still the leader. Democrats have agreed to replace Smith with Sen. John Sampson, D-Brooklyn.

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