The State Senate Democrats: Dysfunction Defined

I read today of the deep campaign debt the New York State Senate Democratic Conference have found themselves in, and the many problems they have had raising money.

How could this happen, I thought....Every Majority Conference can rake in money, surely, and even a Minority Conference can rake in money if they're smart.

Then, the obvious occurred to me: The Senate Democrats have almost literally nothing to raise money on.

Assuming a lack of flat-out, quid pro quo corruption in the process, legislative conferences bring in money by pointing to their agenda, to their accomplishments, and sometimes to the legislative process itself.

As to agenda, I can't even remember what the Senate Democrats' agenda was, outside of a few matters which were specifically NOT enacted into law, gay marriage or “marriage equity” being the primary example. I'm trying to remember more, and I can't. And for present purposes, understanding the Senate Democrats' fund-raising issues, the fact that I can't remember what the Senate Democrats' agenda was is more important than is the content of that agenda.

As to accomplishments? Same. This Legislative Session is notable chiefly for things that were specifically NOT enacted into law. Gay marriage wasn't enacted. A property tax cap wasn't enacted. Corrections to the ill-considered Spitzer-era political ethics reform were enacted, but the corrections were about as ill-considered as the original bill was, and were vetoed by Governor Paterson. In a unique twist, the Senate tried an override vote on ethics, and it failed.

As to the legislative process, the Senate Democrats managed to straddle multiple dichotomies of dysfunction. Until the 2009-2010 New York State Legislative Session, I didn't know a legislative process could be both inefficient and corrupt, both secretive and messy, and both violent and ineffective. It is fitting that, at the close of 2010 the potential limbo of 2011 looms so large that it's squeezed out fixing the current budget. The Session began, and now ends, in limbo.

Why are the Senate Democrats having trouble raising money? Because they have substantial negatives and few, if any, positives. They did nothing with the Majority, which they barely managed to hold during 2 years and seem likely to lose in the immediate future. Any positives they had were easily drowned out by laughable dysfunction.

What, exactly, would the Senate Democrats raise money on? Their agenda was forgettable; their accomplishments negligible; and their process combined ethics that would make both Joe Bruno and Eliot Spitzer blush and the efficiency of a kindergarten class.

To say Albany is dysfunctional is a cliche. What it usually means is "the process did not produce results I approve of. However, after years of Albany being called dysfunctional, finally we have a good, working definition of that term. Political dysfunction is the worst of both worlds: A bad process, and bad (or no) policy. The State Senate, in the Democratic Conference's hands, was a messy, unhealthy sausage factory that made bad-tasting sausage nobody wanted to buy.

Now here's another thing: Isn't it sad that the process has gotten bad enough that whether or not a legislative conference brings in money can be taken as a good measure of their success, or lack thereof?

-The Albany Exile