ALBANY—Negotiations to resolve the State Senate leadership struggle include a deal that would make Malcolm Smith the chamber's president pro tempore and Dean Skelos the majority leader, sources familiar with the discussions said.
Irene Liu at Capitol Confidential reported this earlier, and has more on the second level of leadership. I've heard that things are still fluid regarding the role of the much-maligned Senator Pedro Espada Jr., who currently claims the title of president pro tempore, much to the chagrin of Democrats and some Republicans. He would not, however, take the title that makes him second in line to the governorship, the sources said.
Thursday, Espada told reporters that "a resolution has to recognize June 8," including his election as president pro tem. "Titles matter, scope of responsibility matters," he said. "I think at the end of this, everyone must feel they've won. And I know that's artful, and difficult, but not impossible."
The problem, sources said, will be getting this framework through the Democratic conference, which is scheduled to meet this morning at 11 a.m. There was much resentment at Smith for allowing this whole mess to happen in the first place, and Senator John Sampson emerged as the "conference leader" last week.
"I just think it's totally unfair that Malcolm lands on his feet, at the expense of everyone else," one Democratic senator told me.
So it would seem things are far from set, and maybe not even as close as they seemed yesterday.
