If the Senate gridlock wasn’t enough, Gov. David Paterson warned today that state tax receipts are expected to be 35 percent lower than predictions just a few months ago.

“We are in very difficult times,” Paterson said during a speech to the New York Conference of Mayors in Saratoga Springs. “We are probably going to come out in the next couple of weeks with an economic forecast that no one is going to like.”

The state Legislature closed a nearly $18 billion deficit in the current fiscal year, and Paterson hailed the budget’s passage, saying it will limit the out-year budget gaps by 70 percent.

His budget office predicted just a $2.2 billion gap in the 2010-11 fiscal year.

Budget observers have questioned whether the gaps were underestimated, and Paterson seemed to confirm that today, suggesting that the state may need to reopen the current budget again this summer.

“We may have just as difficult a budget to grapple with this summer as we did last year,” he said.

Ossining’s first female judge has been named by Gov. David Paterson to be a state Supreme Court justice in the lower Hudson Valley, Rebecca Baker reports. Ossining Town Justice Francesca E. Connolly, 51, was chosen to fill a Westchester-based state court seat vacated by Justice Jonathan Lippman, now chief judge of the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.

Read the full story here.

The fifth day of special sessions in the state Senate today ended the way the others have: Neither side had 32 votes to pass any legislation.

So has they have in past days, each side gaveled in and gaveled out within minutes and they left.

The warring sides said they will continue to meet through the weekend to try to end the gridlock that has hit the chamber since June 8.

A larger group of Democratic and Republican senators are meeting later today behind closed doors after Democrats yesterday rejected a plan that would have made Sen. Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, Senate president. Smith was ousted as majority leader in the coup.

Sen. Pedro Espada, D-Bronx, who has joined with Republicans, said this afternoon that progress is being made toward a resolution.

“We’re aware of what embarrassment we brought our state and our institution,” he said. “We’re going to correct that.”

Just put the top of this over on the twitter feed (@polhudson) but here’s a longer version of the story for those interested:

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney has signed a book deal with a conservative imprint of Simon & Schuster and said he hopes readers of all ideologies will be interested in his story.

The memoir by Cheney, widely considered the most powerful vice president in history, is expected to be published in Spring 2011, a few months after President George W. Bush’s book comes out.

Cheney’s work is currently untitled and will cover his long career in government, from chief of staff under President Ford to vice president under Bush, from Vietnam and Watergate to the first Gulf War and the Sept. 11 attacks.

In a telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, the 68-year-old Cheney noted that he had never written a book about his years in government, which dates back to the 1960s.

“I’m persuaded there are a lot of interesting stories that ought to be told,” Cheney said. “I want my grandkids, 20 or 30 years from now, to be able to read it and understand what I did, and why I did it.”

Financial terms were not disclosed. A publishing official with knowledge of the negotiations, but not authorized to publicly discuss, said the deal was likely worth at least $2 million.

   This is Gov. David Paterson’s full response to a question he was asked about Democratic Sen. Kevin Parker’s statement that the governor is a “coke-snorting, staff-banging governor,” which refers to Paterson’s past admissions of marital infidelity and drug use. Parker has since apologized and called his comments “reprehensible and regrettable.”

   “I am not going to be overreacting to defamation. I’m not going to be intimidated by personal attacks. My job is to … serve the people of the State of New York. They can keep hitting me. They can keep trying to hurt me. I’m going to stand up for what’s right. This War of the Roses between these two conferences, who right now if I weren’t in this they’d be fighting each other and doing this to each other. But they’ve only directed this at me to distract you from the fact that they’re not in the chamber or out of the chamber working their problems out. When they work their problems out, we can get back to business. As soon as they work their problems out, we can get to the necessary legislation that will expire on June 30.”

   Gov. David Paterson just said that he is going to withhold any pork-barrel grants, known as member items, unless the Senate reaches an agreement to resolve their leadership stalemate. The money goes to pet projects of senators, usually in their districts.

   “Since they don’t have a presiding officer, we’ve informed them that we are no longer paying member items,” the governor said.

   Paterson, who has accused senators of ”dereliction of duty,” said yesterday that the senators should not be paid their salaries and is waiting for a ruling from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on the issue. He also said yesterday that they would not be paid for expenses and travel or receive their per diem rates for being in Albany.

   The governor said his office is drawing up papers to go to court to compel the Senate to meet in session together.

   Paterson said he is not going to be intimated by personal attacks. Sen. Kevin Parker, a New York City Democrat, yesterday said senators don’t want to be lectured by a “coke-snorting, staff-banging governor,” referring to Paterson’s past admissions of marital infidelity and drug use.

   The governor said that the “War of the Roses” is between the Republicans and Democrats, and now they are directing it at him to distract from the fact that they’re not working out their problems.

   Some more quotes from the governor: Read more of this entry »

   First Democrats filed into the Senate chamber this afternoon and held a two-minute session before leaving, then Republicans essentially did the same thing a few minutes later. One of the only differences is that Democrats had a moment of silence in memory of pop star Michael Jackson and actress Farrah Fawcett, who died yesterday, and Republicans had a general moment of silence.

   There was talk this morning that the two sides were close to resolving their leadership dispute, which has stalled Senate business since it happened June 8, but neither side indicated that a resolution had been reached. Senate President Pro Tempore Pedro Espada, D-Bronx, who helped Republicans take control of the Senate three weeks ago, and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, met with Democratic leaders before holding session. No agreement was reached, but senators would keep negotiating today and throughout the weekend, they said.

   “I think that there is some progress being made, but we’re prepared to stay the whole weekend, however long it’s necessary to get a deal done,” Skelos said.

  Espada said he and the Senate Republicans would stay here this Saturday and Sunday and every weekend until November “if that’s what it takes.”

   The coalition holds firm that the June 8 vote was legal and must stand, and it will not accept any deal under which Espada is vice president pro tempore of the Senate, Espada said. Democrats dispute the vote and have said they refuse to accept Espada as Senate president.

   “We should never, ever make believe that in a democracy, a vote, a majority vote, doesn’t count. Be very careful that we accept that standard,” Espada said.  

   Espada and another New York City Democrat, Hiram Monserrate, voted with the GOP three weeks ago to take over the Senate. Monserrate has since rejoined the Democratic conference, so the chamber has 31 Republicans and Espada on one side, and there are 31 Democrats on the other side. That has led to the stalemate.

The Westchester County Republican Party opted not to run candidates in several county legislative districts, mainly so that they can focus their time, energy and money on key races, Doug Colety, the party chairman said this week.

The GOP won’t be running candidates in districts 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 12, 16 and 17, which means Peter Harckham, John Nonna, Martin Rogowsky, Judy Myers, Vito Pinto, Tom Abinanti, Ken Jenkins and Jose Alvarado are getting free passes from Republicans. Read the story.

“We’re very optimistic we can win countywide races and pick up some county legislator seats,” Colety said.

Here’s a look at their ticket:

Westchester GOP candidates

– County executive: Rob Astorino – District attorney: Dan Schorr – County clerk: Robert Morabito – District 1, Peekskill, Buchanan and Yorktown: John Testa

– District 4, Yorktown, New Castle and Somers: Gregory Kane – District 5, White Plains and Scarsdale: Bob Hyland – District 8, Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown, Elmsford and Greenburgh: Thomas Bock – District 9, Cortlandt, Croton-on-Hudson, Ossining, Briarcliff Manor: Susan Konig – District 11, Pelham, Pelham Manor, New Rochelle: James Maisano* – District 13, Mount Vernon: Dorothy Fiorillo – District 14, Yonkers: Bernice Spreckman* – District 15, Yonkers and Bronxville: Gordon Burrows*

• incumbent

Senate Democrats and Republicans met this morning in hopes of reaching a power-sharing agreement that would end the nearly three-week gridlock that has paralyzed the chamber.

But they broke from a closed-door meeting without an agreement, said Sens. Pedro Espada, D-Bronx, and Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, who led a June 8 coup to oust Democratic leadership.

Gov. David Paterson has called the warring sides into the fourth day of special sessions at noon today in hopes of getting them to pass long-delayed legislation.

But senators said they expect to simply gavel in and gavel out without taking any action, which is what they did Thursday. Paterson has vowed to call special sessions every day until the senators settle the dispute. The Senate is currently split 31-31.

Speculation around the Capitol this morning is that the sides were close to agreeing to share power among the four leaders of the two factions: Democratic conference Sens. Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, and Sen. John Sampson, D-Brooklyn; and Republican-led conference members Sens. Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, and Pedro Espada, a Bronx Democrat.

But several officials cautioned that there are a number of leadership scenarios being discussed, and after meeting with Democrats, Skelos and Espada emerged to say no deal was reached.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Senate Democrats and Republicans were back in court this morning over
Republicans’ request for a retraining order against Democratic secretary of the senate Angelo Aponte. Republicans claim he has been thwarting their efforts to hold session.

State Supreme Court Judge Thomas McNamara agreed to Republicans’ request to subpoena the transcript and journal record from the June 8 leadership vote.

But he delayed any action on the restraining order. He called both sides back into conference at 1 p.m. Monday.

Republican attorney Jack Casey said there are “sensitive negotiations: between the sides to resolve the leadership fight.

Sen. Kevin Parker, D-Brooklyn, put out this statement shortly before midnight apologizing for calling Gov. David Paterson a “coke-snorting, staff-banging governor.”

Here’s the statement:

“Unlike others who have been less than forthcoming, when Governor Paterson assumed office, he made personal revelations about activities in his past.

Many times people have thrown these admissions back in the Governor’s face to gain political advantage. Today I became one of them.

Governor Paterson’s statements a year ago were voluntary in order to promote transparency and full disclosure.

My conduct today was reprehensible and regrettable. I apologize to the Governor and the First Lady and I am profoundly sorry for any pain and suffering that I may have caused the Governor’s family.”