Republican state Senate candidate, Lee Zeldin of Suffolk, is out with a statement opposing a furlough of state workers. The statement from Zeldin doesn't lay out alternatives to the furlough--which Governor David Paterson has proposed in order to help close the state's budget gap.

But this should help him appeal to unions for support in his campaign against Democratic incumbent Brian Foley.

From Zeldin:

I strongly oppose furloughs of state employees which are being imposed due to the incompetence of our state government and their failure to have passed a budget by now.

My opponent, Brian Foley, and his “leaders”, have once again let down hard working blue collar middle income Long Islanders.

This new furlough literally takes food off the table of Long Islanders already struggling with our outrageously high property taxes and overall cost of living.

I was born into a union family and appreciate the dedicated effort of those state workers who don’t easily make ends meet and aren’t overpaid as some may mistakenly think.

Had the State Budget been passed on April 1^st, 40 days ago, state employees would not be suffering from these furloughs.  Quite frankly, if Albany didn't increase spending by 13 billion dollars last year, we would have had a budget surplus this year instead of a deficit.

Instead, the Senate should stop defending their own unearned furloughs with their disgraceful 2 day work weeks (afternoon Monday to afternoon Wednesday).  Legislators should stay in Albany and do the job we hired them to do, no matter how long it takes, even if it means working around the clock!  

"I think if it came to the floor for a vote, the vote will be expulsion," Skelos told Fred Dicker on WGDJ. "They have not indicated when it will come for a vote, but the sooner the better."

Dicker asked what his conference would do if a recommendation were made for some form of censure that falls short of expulsion, whether Republicans would offer another resolution. Brian Foley, a Long Island Democrat, has indicated he would support such a resolution and might introduce it.

"I think that's something that our conference would have to discuss, and I think it's a real possibility," Skelos said. "I believe it can be done, but again, the head of the Senate does have tremendous power in terms of what will come to the floor and what will not come to the floor."

A special committee is considering a draft report on the incident that led to Monserrate's arrest, and should issue its findings in the next few weeks. Senate action on its recommendations--which will likely include expulsion--will follow.

"We need to come out of the box in January and start to really pass some progressive and positive legislation because people have one characterization of us," Sampson, the leader of the chamber's Democratic conference, told reporters during an informal chat in his Capitol office. "We need to change that. Basically, we need a makeover. Hopefully, the legislative action in the coming months will help us in the making over."

In a wide-ranging 25-minute conversation with reporters, Sampson signaled his support for raising the cap on charter schools, said it was premature to try and eject Hiram Monserrate from the chamber, contended that school districts should expect to see their state funding cut next year and, notably (if unsurprisingly), said that he doesn't anticipate making any changes to the conference's "leadership team."

"We have a leadership team," Sampson said.

He was asked the question several times. "It is comprised of Senator Smith and Senator Espada, Senator Jeff Klein and myself. I run the day-to-day operations, the administrative and legislative agendas of the State Senate, and that is the leadership team. At this point in time, as indicated, we have a legislative team. We will be talking to members of the conference just making sure that we are all on the same page and getting ready to do some great things in 2010. No more surprises. We want a pretty boring 2010."

"I think people are not really concerned about the leadership so much, I think people are really concerned about the results or the things that arise out of the leadership and the issues that are really pushed forth to help the people of the state," he continued. "Sometimes it's like, people are not concerned about who is the pilot of the plane, but as long as the plane gets landed."

Regarding Senator Hiram Monserrate, who Senator Brian Foley is working to expel from the chamber after his conviction for misdemeanor assault, Sampson said, "I'm still waiting for a decision from the committee, and once we get those recommendations I will make the appropriate decisions." He said this will happen "within the next couple of weeks."

Sampson said that in the next budget cycle, "everything is on the table," and that cuts to school aid are now "appropriate."

"We stopped the mid-year school cuts, but the school boards and everybody needs to know that everything is on the table," Sampson said. "Cuts are appropriate, so you need to come to the table with a mindset knowing that there are going to be cuts, and you're going to need to figure out a way that you can deal with them."

At the end of the session, I asked Sampson what the biggest obstacle was that his conference faced this year.

"Managing the expectations of the advocates, that was the biggest obstacle," he replied. "If we knew how to manage our expectations a little better, I think we could have managed our conference a little better, especially dealing with the one-vote majority."

The answer came after a 30-second pause in which some other reporters suggested an attempted coup and month-long stalemate as a larger obstacle. Sampson was asked how managing expectations led to the coup, if at all.

"Dealing with a lot of the issues that members of our conference wanted to deal with, some of the advocates, some of the issues that they believed in and worked with other groups. I think if we managed that expectation better and dealing with that, I think we might have been able to prevent the coup from occurring," Sampson said. "Sometimes you have to listen to the cries or the cries of your members and the issues that they have, because instead of always thinking you know what the agenda is, sometimes you need to sit back and listen to people and see what their agenda is, and see if you can incorporate into the whole and work toward it. Especially when you're operating with a fragile majority. And everybody knows in our conference that we don't have the discipline that they have in the other conference but we're getting to that point. It's going to take a while, but we are a lot more disciplined than people expected. A perfect example is during the coup and the ability for us--our democratic members--to sit together. Because I bet that everyone sitting at this table and on the phone never thought our senate Democrats would stick together. That we would just go: a faction would go here, a faction would go there. And if you were betting, I bet you bet against it. I would have bet against it too."

Brian Foley is a freshman Democrat who was elected to a Long Island district that, for decades, had been represented by Republican Casear Trunzo.

Normally, a Democrat from a marginal district could be forgiven (by legislative leaders, advocates, etc.) for not toeing the party line. But today, Foley voted in favor of same-sex marriage. Last month, Foley was "undecided," according to NY1.

Foey has been in this poition before, when he voted with Democrats on a bailout of the M.T.A. These are two clear points that a challenger in a general election could use against him.

A spokesman for Foley said that a freshman Democrat from a marginal district would likely be challenged by a Republican no matter how they voted on these and other issues.

"I said last night we're only $200 million apart on a $3.2 billion DRP," State Senator Liz Krueger said this morning. We've gone back in this morning with a number of additional proposals, as the governor himself has said that he would come back with."

"I hope that we get this done before the weekend," Senator Malcolm Smith said. "We're close. We're still working. Senator Sampson is meeting now with some of the finance people."

Legislators today met in a closed-door conference to discuss the outlines of a proposal. It would include cuts to health care and education, but the health care cuts would be structured to avoid the loss of federal matching funds and the education cuts would not be directly for school aid, according to Senate sources.

Many of the sweeps and one-shots proposed by David Paterson in his deficit-reduction plan remain. It's unclear whether the overall number that the Senate Democrats are willing to vote for as a bloc will total the $3.2 billion that Paterson has set as a target.

Democratic Leader John Sampson came onto the chamber floor briefly where members are lingering. He spoke with Senators Darrel Aubertine, Neil Breslin, Brian Foley and Jeff Klein before walking to a meeting in the office of  with Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos.

It seems there's a game of who's-pushing-who going on, with David Paterson continuing to rattle sabres as negotiations continue. He has said, variously, that a deficit plan must contain real cuts and that he will accept something that bridges the deficit that is agreeable to all parties. Senator Pedro Espada Jr. told me this about the governor:

"I think the challenge to the governor is that an executive needs to consider all options and not be fixated on particular cuts because one needs to appear tough," Espada said.

If Paterson does not agree to a plan that contains fewer cuts--which appears to be the only thing able to gain 32 Democratic votes in the Senate--some of the chamber's Republicans would be needed.

There are now five Democratic state senators either publicly calling Monserrate to resign or for the chamber to take what action it can to rebuke him: Liz Krueger (who was the first to call for Monserrate to resign) David Valesky, Darrel Aubertine, Brian Foley and Neil Breslin. More are grumbling expletives on background.

But, Senators have told me privately, there are those in the conference who support him staying. I called State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr., who like Monserrate is part of the "four amigos" faction in the chamber, and asked him for his thoughts.

"He will not step aside, and the senate will not do anything more. It is over," Diaz told me by phone. "He has paid enough money, he has paid enough embarrassment. The case is over. Done. Finito. Se acabó."

I asked Diaz about Senator Marty Golden's continuing attacks on Monserrate.

"They're always going to be people that will try to get their way with things, when things don't come out the way they wanted. But those people that were actually accusing him without knowing, they should be embarrassed. They're embarrassed because of the verdict and now they don't know anymore," Diaz Sr. said. "They're embarrassed, and they want his blood. But his blood they will not get.

"Guilty of a misdemeanor for trying to get her to go to the hospital. Fine. If they found it was wrong for him to try and drive her to the hospital, we accept that. But the four amigos still are stronger than ever, more united than ever, and ready to work."

Diaz sent a letter to his colleagues dubbing their calls "hypocrisy" and pointing to the case of John Sabini. Another amigo, Senator Pedro Espada Jr., told the Buffalo News that "the matter was adjudicated and we don't get to do do-overs or second guesses.

I reached out to one of Monserrate's aides, who said the senators comments from yesterday still stand.

"There are no winners here today," he said then.

“People who want to rob the state go to the pension fund,” said Cuomo.

The plan would also ban companies that contribute money to the state comptroller’s campaign from doing business with the pension fund, a change Cuomo and the senators said would be significant in and of itself.

“The system is fatally flawed,” said Cuomo. “You have a comptroller who needs to raise money, politically, you have companies that are trying to attract money from the comptroller, and those two facts are a toxic cocktail and they are prone to abuse.”

Cuomo said the governor is “generally supportive” of the concept introduced today.

When asked if the current comptroller should be re-elected if he opposes this proposal, Cuomo said, “The comptroller will have his own opinion. At one point the comptroller, when he was an assemblyman, supported this. So, I don’t know what his position is now.”

The senators in attendance were Senate Conference Leader John Sampson, Brian Foley and Eric Schneiderman, all Democrats. Senator John Flanagan, a Republican, also attended.

Funeral arrangements have not been publicly announced. The State Senate is scheduled to return to session on Thursday; the younger Foley is one of 32 Democrats in that chamber. If he is unable to attend and vote, it's doubtful that some of the more controversial items on the Democrats' agenda will pass.

Shams Tarek at the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee wrote to say that, according to a mid-July update of the voter file maintained by the State Board of Elections, there are now 199 more Democrats registered in Foley's Suffolk County district than there are Republicans. In April, when the elections board published a semi-annual report of the enrollment figures, Republicans still led in the district. The overall trend statewide is toward the Democrats.

It was occupied for decades by State Senator Caesar Trunzo, a Republican who Foley beat last year by a 20,000-vote margin. Republicans have their eyes on the seat, and lawyer Lee Zeldin has created a committee to explore a run against him in 2010. Republicans have attacked him for his votes for the state budget and for an M.T.A. bailout that was funded largely by a payroll tax.

Tarek claimed the trend in Foley's district—and an enrollment tip in the district of State Senator Chuck Fuschillo—is due to the recent coup attempt by Republicans in the State Senate as well as unresponsiveness "cultivated during four decades of Republican rule."

Susan Del Percio, a spokesman for the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, said, "We expect to see a very competitive race for the 3rd Senate district.  We look forward to a lively debate on the issues, especially why Brian Foley voted for Gov. Paterson's job killing payroll tax."

Senators will act on a bill—called the "Better Schools Act"—that is stridently opposed by the mayor because it dilutes his influence over the school system by eliminating his ability to appoint a majority of the Panel for Educational Policy and giving members a fixed two-year term. It also has other mechanisms for increasing parental involvement and financial oversight, many of which were included in a bill passed last month by the Assembly and proponed by other senators.

"I like to think of it as enhanced mayoral control," Senator Kevin Parker, a Brooklyn Democrat who sponsored the bill, said. "This bill makes the Panel for Educational Policy a real panel."

Parker called the Assembly bill a "non-starter" and accused Bloomberg's surrogates of "negotiating in bad faith." (The surrogates, including Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, say otherwise.) The plan was to pass the Assembly bill along with some other amendments, or assurances those amendments would be passed. An agreement could not be reached, but this action will likely draw a sharp rebuke from the mayor, even if it is legally meaningless.

And it seems to be. All the senators I've spoken to except for Parker say Parker's bill will fail. Earlier today, Republican leaders claimed they would deliver 30 votes for the Assembly bill (29 because one senator, Owen Johnson, is absent). That would require all 32 Democrats to vote for Parker's bill, but only 28 are in the chamber. (Senator Daniel Squadron is celebrating his honeymoon at an undisclosed tropical location; Senators Carl Kruger and Ruben Diaz Sr. made a big stink yesterday and simply left; Senator Brian Foley is on Long Island tending to his ailing father.)

"No, no," said Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr., when I asked if the bill would pass.

At the prompting of spokesman Austin Shafran, who accompanied Parker to speak to reporters munching on pizza in the press room in preparation for another overnight session, the senator admitted that "we're putting forth our ideas toward either a conference committee or some other negotiation."

I asked if he would be weakened in such a negotiation—or if such a negotiation could truly occur—if the bill failed on the floor.

"Even if the bill fails, it now allows you guys to ask Republicans why they didn't vote for it," Parker replied.

UPDATE: As predicted, the bill failed.