Posted on 04/02/2006 7:07:53 PM PDT by neverdem
ALBANY, March 31 — One is a wisecracking if wandering orator, a silver-haired Korean War veteran and upstate entrepreneur with an acknowledged love of the cameras.
The other is a gravel-throated lawyer from the Lower East Side whose voice rarely rises above a low rumble. His eyebrows are one of his most expressive features, undulating as his mouth frowns.
The two, Joseph L. Bruno, the 76-year-old Republican Senate majority leader, and Sheldon Silver, 62, the Democratic Assembly speaker, have been clashing behind closed doors for more than a decade. Along with Gov. George E. Pataki, the two men steer the $110-billion-to-$115-billion behemoth that is New York state government, often in different directions.
But in March, Albany's legislative odd couple stepped out from behind the curtain, just a bit, to bring their budget debates before the public.
If it was something of a baby step in a town not known for open government, it did provide a window into their sometimes prickly, sometimes comical negotiating rapport. Some disputes were weighty — school financing, Medicaid reform — and some numbing, like a half-hour squabble over conferring tax breaks on clean-burning coal plants.
But their divorced-couple banter is enough to entertain any armchair psychologist.
When one legislator referred to a long discourse on taxes as "therapeutic," Mr. Silver said, "I want to make it clear I don't need therapy."
"I'm available, Shelly, if you need me," Mr. Bruno retorted.
"If I do," Mr. Silver said, not missing a beat, "that may be the reason, senator."
Mr. Bruno, who lives in the Albany area, is the champion of upstate New York, and he is repaid with tributes that tickle his vanity; a local arena bears his name, and a local Y.M.C.A. has his visage on a plaque. When another Republican, James Tedisco, the Assembly...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Bloomberg: Illegals needed to take care of golf courses
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
I just wrote a piece on the budget.
http://www.rusthompson.com/
Another site here with an interesting article.
http://albanysinsanity.speakupwny.com/
They are both mine.
This state is out of control and we must reign it in.
Thanks for the links!
Your welcome...
I am a political junkie and my eyes are set on Albany.
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