Posted on 07/05/2008 6:51:40 PM PDT by neverdem
For years, when Republican state senators met privately in their elegant, high-ceilinged conference room in the Capitol, most senior members clustered around the room’s center table, close to Joseph L. Bruno, the majority leader.
But Dean G. Skelos, the hard-driving Long Island Republican and deputy majority leader, sat in a back corner. From there, he studied the scene, taking in members’ facial expressions, their tones of voice and their reactions to other senators’ ideas.
“My grandfather taught me a long time ago, be a buyer, not a seller,” said Mr. Skelos in an interview on Thursday. He added: “I like to watch people. I like to listen to what they are saying. I don’t have to be speaking all....”
--snip--
That was evident in June 2007, when Mr. Skelos helped sink a major compromise that might otherwise have given Mr. Spitzer a successful conclusion to a contentious legislative session.
At the time, Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Bruno had been discussing a deal that would have imposed some form of new limits on campaign contributions, which was important to Mr. Spitzer. In return, Mr. Spitzer was to help pass a congestion pricing plan to ease traffic in New York City, a top priority for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a key Bruno ally, and provide state money for capital projects, a priority for Mr. Bruno and many upstate senators.
But when Mr. Bruno presented the outline of the deal to his conference, several Republican senators said, Mr. Skelos quickly rose to condemn it. Any deal with Mr. Spitzer, he told them, especially on campaign finance, would merely give ammunition to a governor determined to destroy their hold on the Senate majority. Other senators came around to Mr. Skelos’s point of view, including his longtime rival, Senator Thomas W. Libous, a Binghamton Republican.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Lousy pic, but the only one in the story. Other than that, I liked what I read about the Mean Dean.
Somewhere, buried in a box in my parent’s garage, is a photo of a young Clemenza circa 1984 or 1985 with Senator Skelos. The guy has been around forever, and its his strong constituent services that keep him in office, despite his ideological squishiness.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
I spoke to Maziarz last week and he assured me that Skelos will help WNY and Upstate. I have been fighting the tolls and the thruway authority and he is supposedly on our side.
Bruno slammed the brakes on our Toll Bill the last night of the session. http://noGItolls.com
They are supposed to go back into session soon after they hammer out a deal over the property tax cap. Paterson wants one, the Democrats don’t and the Republicans in the Senate want more than just a simple cap.
I have been hearing good things and also that Paterson gets along better with the R’s in the senate than his own D’s...
We gotta get rid of Silver..........next.
He’s loved on the South Shore of LI.
Hope he can hold back A Dem take over of the Senate.
If only it had been Silver who was caught with the hooker.
I talked long and hard with Maziarz and he spoke very highly about him. He can still take care of his district and yet keep an open ear and mind to the rest of the state.
Had I known he was going to be here last week I would have asked Maziarz to get me in to talk with him.
Silver and a prostitute? That would be great, but IO am glad Spitzer is gone we are all better for that.
Thanks for the ping!
Did Joe step down early so Deano could enjoy what it was like to be acting Lt Governor before the NY GOP loses control of the Senate for what may be the forseeable future come November ? :-\
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.