Capitol Confidential – by Jimmy Vielkind
Tired of what they say is the Legislature’s “diminished” status as a “lap dog” for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Republicans in the State Assembly proposed amending the state Constitution to forbid legislative activity after midnight.
Over two dozen legislators gathered for a Tuesday morning press conference to push for the amendment, which would also make it harder for a governor to waive a required three-day waiting period for bills with a “message of necessity.” While this issue has simmered for years, the legislators were spurred by their unhappiness with Cuomo’s push for a gun control measure that was voted on less than 24 hours after it was unveiled.
“We’re told, basically, to shut up and vote,” said Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, R-Schaghticoke. “If that’s not dictatorial, I don’t know what is. Hitler would be proud. Mussolini would be proud of what we did here. Moscow would be proud. That’s not democracy.”
“The only thing necessary was to ram-it-through so the people of the state of New York didn’t get a chance to see it. That’s why you’re seeing, across the state, this reaction that you’re seeing,” McLaughlin continued.
The measure is sponsored by Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, R-Glenville, and Sen. Greg Ball, a Putnam County Republican. Republicans hold a small minority in the Assembly, and measures like this one are rarely brought to a floor vote. A spokesman for Democrats who dominate the chamber condemned McLaughlin’s Hitler comparison as “highly offensive and beneath a member of the State Legislature. It is completely inappropriate and doesn’t belong in our public discourse.” The spokesman said the governor and legislators agree to messages of necessity “as appropriate.” Scott Reif, a spokesman for Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos, said he had not seen the bill.
Cuomo told the Times Union Editorial Board last week that his decision to use a message-of-necessity for the gun bill was justified because he feared a run on gun stores to buy firearms that would be covered by an expanded ban, an explanation accepted by League of Women Voters Legislative Director Barbara Bartoletti, a longtime critic of the messages. Cuomo has used fewer messages of necessity than his recent predecessors, and also said that major legislation would not survive a three-day waiting period because vote commitments sometimes do not stand.
Fine, McLaughlin said.
“So what? Then it’s not a good deal,” McLaughlin said. “He’s probably right. We would have had thousands of people down here at the Capitol.”
Ball repeated his criticism of Cuomo’s approach to the bill, saying it was done “to beat Washington D.C. to the political punch.”
“In the haste of doing so, we got a bill that was like Swiss Cheese,” he said.
Update: McLaughlin apologized for his comments about five hours after making them.
Courtesy Kyle Hughes of NYSNYS.com, here’s video of the event in two parts:
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