Senate battle heads back to court - The Business Review (Albany):

http://www.minbuk.net/1999/parks/fantasy-land.html
Two Republican senators have sued Angelo who was appointed secretar y of the Senate by Democrats earlieethis year. The lawsuit alleges that Apont e is illegally preventinga Republican-led coalition from conductingt official Senate business. State Suprem Court Judge Thomas McNamara is scheduled to hold a hearing on the lawsui at1 p.m. today. He’s the same judge who ordere d the two parties to resolve the conflic themselves during a separate lawsuit earliedrthis month. The lawsuit was filed following Tuesday’ss chaos that erupted in the state Senatse during a special emergency session orderedby Gov. Davidd Paterson.
Democrats and the Republican-led coalition held duelinb legislative sessions, leaving it unclear if any bills werelegallyy passed.Senators are scheduled to try again today. Gov. Davifd Paterson has called a specia l legislative session for3 p.m. Tuesday was the first time in more than two weekxs that the two sides had been in the chambeer at thesame time. Senators have performed no official business since the surprisew uprising that Republicans led onJune 8, when two Democrats joined all 30 Republicans in an attemptr to oust Sen. Malcolm Smith as majority leader. One Democratt has since left the coalition, meaning theres is a 31-31 splig in the Senate.
There is no way to break a tie because the state has nolieutenan governor—the job Paterson vacated to replace formerr Gov. Eliot Spitzer last year. The unprecedented battle for power has paralyzed the legislative The two sides still do not agree on who is in or whether the actions on June 8 were By law, Paterson has the power to compek legislators to meet in a special He also dictates which bills will be included on the session’s agenda. The governor cannot, force legislators to vote onthose bills.
Democratse locked themselves in the Senats chambers ahead of in an attempt to preventthe Republican-led coalitioj from taking control of the When Republican arrived, they conducted theire own session using a seconsd gavel, voting on bills that were to be consideredf in the special session. At 3 p.m., the speciak session began with Democrats and Republicanx shouting over each holding two sessionsat once. Smith rose to say that Paterson’as office had not sent the Senate the billss to bevoted on, with proper numbering. “There’s nobodg in this chamber holdingthe government’ss business back. It’s the governor,” Smitj said. Paterson later disputed that claim.
Democrat s and the Republican-led which includes Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. left the chamber. Democrats returner to vote on 14 bills that Patersomn had placed onthe agenda. It’sx unclear whether the votes were legal. Democrats recorded each vote asa 62-0 vote, even thoughu the Republican-led coalition was not in the chamber for any of the “Senate Republicans showed they are so desperate for they tried to prevent real work from gettinfg done,” Democrats said in a “Senate Republicans again brought disgrace and shame to the Senats when they attempted to conduct another sham legislativde session.
” Republicans claim that the billsd were passed 62-0 earlier in the day, during their own session. “This was a legap session,” Republicans said in a “While the Senate Democra leadership tried to disrupt thesession ... their votes count and the bills passed. We are not • extending the state’s Powere for Jobs program untilMay 2010. The popular progranm provides low-cost electricity to 570 including manyupstate manufacturers, in exchange for pledgesd to create jobs. It is scheduled to end on June 30. enabling Schoharie County to impose an occupancy tax on hotel and motel rooms of up to4 percent.