Assembly Effort Hits Snag with Three Absences
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ALBANY – The Assembly’s effort to override Governor Pataki’s budget vetoes ran into unexpected trouble last night when three Democrats failed to report for the session, leaving the leadership one vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority.
The speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver of Manhattan, blamed the Republican governor for persuading three of the 102 Democrats to stay home. One-hundred votes are necessary for an override in the 150-seat house.
The first override effort taken up last night – which would have increased funding for community colleges and libraries – failed by votes of 99-42.
“This is what happens when the governor works this hard on keeping people away,” Mr. Silver said.
The governor last month issued 195 vetoes that cut $235 million in spending and $1.6 billion in borrowing from the Legislature’s $101.6 billion budget, which was passed more than four months late. His cuts targeted extra funding for schools, libraries, colleges, welfare programs, prisons, hospitals, and nursing homes.
Mr. Pataki, who foresees a deficit of more than $6 billion in the next fiscal year, yesterday accused Assembly leaders of wanting to spend money the state doesn’t have.
“It’s wonderful to be able to politically posture and to say, ‘We want you to have this money,’ ” Mr. Pataki told reporters. “Where’s it going to come from? Somebody has to be an adult here.”
Among the Democrats absent yesterday was Assemblyman Stephen Kaufman of the Bronx, who was running for a Senate seat with the support of the Senate’s Republican majority. Last Tuesday he lost both the Republican and Democratic primaries.
Another missing lawmaker was Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo of the Bronx, who endorsed Mr. Pataki for reelection in 2002. The third was Assemblyman Ron Tocci of New Rochelle, who won re-election in 2002 on the Republican line after losing the Democratic primary. Mr. Tocci is leaving the Assembly at the end of this year. All three also supported an unsuccessful attempt to replace Mr. Silver as speaker in 2000. Last year, the Assembly and Senate overrode 119 of Mr. Pataki’s budget vetoes.