March 22, 2010,
Vol. 15, No. 26
New York governor David Paterson, beset by charges of witness
tampering in the case of a close aide accused of assaulting an
ex-girlfriend, has spoken of legalizing ultimate fighting as a revenue
raiser to help close the state’s $8 billion plus budget gap. But New
Yorkers looking for brawling entertainment need look no further than
the Democratic caucus of the state senate where Paterson had been a
member for 20 years.
During a debate on whether to expel Queens state senator Hiram
Monserrate, who was convicted of a misdemeanor for trying to slash his
girlfriend’s throat with a piece of broken glass, State Senator Kevin
Parker rose to the occasion. Parker, under indictment for attacking a
news photographer, has a personal stake in defending Monserrate. Sent
to anger-management counseling for punching a female traffic agent, the
solidly built 5′11″ Parker could also be expelled if he’s convicted in
the photographer assault case.
Infuriated by comments of the 5′2″ Diane Savino, a state senator
from Staten Island, that Monserrate could be immediately expelled with
the co-operation of the Republicans, Parker, egged on by his political
pals, charged at her screaming that she was a “f—ing bi*ch” because
“the Republicans have no right to dictate what goes on in our house.”
When Jeffrey Klein of the Bronx leaped to Savino’s defense, Parker
turned on him—and in a version of B-movie dialogue screamed at Klein,
“Do you want a piece of me?” “If that’s what it takes to stop this,”
came Klein’s retort.
With the possibility that Paterson will be forced out of office, New
York could have its third governor in four years. Paterson’s
predecessor was Eliot “I’m a f—ing steamroller” Spitzer, a spoiled rich
kid anointed by the New Republic as a liberal messiah (before
the magazine discovered Barack Obama). Spitzer had a brief rocky
stretch as governor after he was caught using the state police to try
to gather incriminating evidence against political rival Joe Bruno. But
it was his patronage of a brothel that brought down this
self-proclaimed supporter of women’s rights.
Scandal is routine in New York State, where soaring rhetoric about
government—remember Mario Cuomo’s “New York Idea”—has intersected with
the unchecked growth of spending and the absence of competitive
elections to produce a continuous crime scene. In recent years the
state comptroller Alan Hevesi, a Democrat, and Joe Bruno, the
Republican president of the state senate, have been convicted of
shakedowns.
http://weeklystandard.com/articles/albany%E2%80%99s-crime-spree