Malcolm Smith, newly installed as state Senate majority leader, will start to prove today whether he has what it takes to give New York a respectable Legislature - or is just an Albany slug.
Smith, of Queens, has talked a good game. As wow golda Democrat in a house that was controlled by Republicans, he called for reforms that would have ended the GOP's boss rule.
This afternoon, Smith and freshly empowered Democrats will set the Senate rules. They have a couple of good ideas for starting to relieve the Legislature of its deserved reputation as America's worst. But the agenda is disappointingly weak.
As the only hope for change - no one expects anything of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver - Smith must be more aggressive in giving power to buy wow goldrank-and-file lawmakers of both parties.
And, crucially, he must create a culture in which members are free to act on legislation without fear of financial retribution by the leadership.
Statesmanship is demanded because Smith must diminish his own power, forgoing dictatorship to exercise strength in coalitions - the way it's done in Congress.
The Democrats are set today to end two abuses perpetrated by the Republicans: a maneuver that allowed GOP senators to kill bills without cheap wow gold
putting "no" votes in the record, and a rule that blocked minority senators from co-sponsoring majority bills.
There's far more to be done, including measures that Smith and the Democrats have tried to enact before. Like ending absentee voting in committees, enabling lawmakers to force bills out of committee and giving all senators equal office budgets.
Rather than act immediately on those no-brainers, Smith appointed a bipartisan committee to report in 90 days. He said the panel will study other ideas. Good. Here they are:
First, kill the so-called lulu system that sell wow goldawards extra stipends to committee chairs as a way to force them to do the leader's bidding. Smith should look to Congress, where the most senior committee chair and most junior member get the same compensation.
Third, Smith must create a functioning ethics committee and adopt the standard employed by Congress: On indictment and until cleared, world of warcraft power levelingmembers are stripped of committee privileges. He made a big mistake in appointing freshman Sen. Hiram Monserrate as a committee chair with a $12,500 lulu at a time when charges he slashed his girlfriend's face with a broken glass are unresolved.