Bring On the Tarantulas

By GAIL COLLINS
NYT

I am deeply depressed about my state’s Legislature. This is an embarrassing thing to have to admit, since it obviously suggests the lack of a full and meaningful inner life.

Still, it’s bad. You may have heard that New York is currently in crisis because two Democrats in the State Senate defected, giving Republicans control. The remaining Democrats turned out the lights and locked the doors.

Ever the optimist, Gov. David Paterson suggested that the whole mess might turn into a “great opportunity” to create a new kind of Senate where every important issue is brought on the floor for a free and open vote. That apparently terrorized everybody, since within hours word leaked out that one of the defectors, Hiram Monserrate, was wavering. This is a guy from Queens who is about to go on trial for domestic violence. I cannot tell you how inspiring it is to see the fate of the legislative agenda hinging on a person who is under indictment for stabbing his girlfriend with a broken glass.

As the sun sank in Albany, the senators were fighting about which side had the key to the door. Lawsuits were threatened. Nobody was happy except the reporters, who had not seen anything this interesting since Gov. Eliot Spitzer was driven out of office in that sex scandal and Paterson marked his succession by calling a press conference to confess that he had cheated on his wife.

(More here.)