ALBANY—Democratic state senators, after a long slog over the state budget and a weekend in their districts, are going to dinner.
Majority Leader Malcolm Smith called a meeting to be held at the suburban Desmond Hotel & Conference Center, where members are expected to serve as Monday-evening quarterbacks on how they handled the state budget, and possibly discuss plans to provide money to the M.T.A. to plug its multi-billion-dollar deficit.
I asked State Senator Bill Perkins where things stood with the M.T.A. before he left the Capitol.
"As far as I'm concerned, we have to come up with a plan that meets the needs of the system and [does] not unduly burden straphangers, and, without being specific about any particular tax or any particular toll, or any particular fare—because I think it's premature—that we have to just keep that in mind. That the system has to be paid for."
I asked if he thinks it's unreasonable to ask for specifics, given that the legislature has known about the M.T.A.'s difficulties for some time now.
"It's a fair question to ask, it's just not appropriate to answer as explicitly as you would like because these negotiations are going on," Perkins said. "I think one fair turn deserves another."
From conversations with staffers, it seems that the plan is held up on the issue of the payroll tax; there is not yet a three-way agreement on what the bailout should look like.
Today in Harlem, David Paterson said that Republicans in the Senate should come to the table and offer a plan they can vote for. "That's how you get back to being in the majority, not by being negative and hostile because you lost a few times," he told reporters.
State Senator Diane Savino, a Democrat, said it's in the "best interest of the downstate region" to get something done, and therefore New York City Republicans—Marty Golden, Andrew Lanza and Frank Padavan—should step up.
I asked Golden about that.
He reiterated what was laid out in a statement just issued by Minority Leader Dean Skelos, who announced that Senate Democrats won't take advice from a governor with very low approval ratings.
"I'd love to man-up," Golden then said. "But you know what? Guess who hasn't called us? The governor. Guess who hasn't called us? The State Senate Democratic majority. So if you really want us to man-up, you have to invite us to the game."
