All thirty senate republicans voted against the bill. *Every* *single* *one* of them.
So....how'd they get there?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/nyregion/04bloomberg.html?ref=nyregion>>>>>>>Mayor’s Donation Angers Albany Democrats
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By DANNY HAKIM and JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: March 4, 2008
ALBANY— News that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg quietly provided $500,000 to state Republicans to help them retain control of the Senate triggered anger among Democrats in the Capitol on Monday, with some predicting that the mayor had badly damaged his legislative agenda.
Mr. Bloomberg sought to defend the donation, which Republicans say will be critical to them as they try to hang on to power. But the mayor agitated Democrats further when he suggested that he wrote the check because Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Gov. Eliot Spitzer have not always been helpful to his agenda.
“In terms of making a donation to help the Republicans, they’ve been there for us,” Mr. Bloomberg said in Florida on Monday. “I’ve said repeatedly, I will help those who help us. They’ve come and stood up for the city a number of times when we needed to have a voice in Albany and didn’t have that voice from the Assembly or from the governor, whether it was the last governor or this governor,” the mayor added.
Told of Mr. Bloomberg’s remarks, Mr. Silver, who represents Lower Manhattan, was incredulous.
“I don’t believe that that’s what he said,” Mr. Silver responded, asking a reporter to verify the comments with the mayor’s communications staff. “He said just the opposite about two weeks ago. The Assembly’s been there on behalf of the city time in and time out, so I think you’d better check.”
Some Democrats said that the mayor’s decision to take sides in the bitter battle over the Senate will diminish his ability to win legislative support for his congestion pricing plan, which already appeared in some doubt. In order to qualify for federal financing, the mayor needs approval by the City Council and the Legislature by March 31 for the proposal, which would impose a fee on those who drive into the busiest part of Manhattan during workdays.
“You don’t want to stick your thumb in the eye of people that you want to help you,” said Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie, a Bronx Democrat. “Any mayor of the City of New York needs the governor as an ally, I think, a little more than the governor needs the mayor, because there’s so much that the Legislature does to help the city.”
Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat and an opponent of congestion pricing, said, “Whatever pressure there was on Democrats to support it is now gone.”
Mr. Brodsky said the donation would alienate not only Democrats in the Legislature, but the Spitzer administration as well. “They’ve been pulling his fat out of the fire for a year and a half now, and what they’ve bought themselves is a big, big, big-time political opponent,” he said.
When a reporter traveling with Mr. Bloomberg in Florida suggested to him that the contribution might hurt his legislation’s chances, the mayor bristled.
“Think about what you’re saying,” he said. “You’re saying that those decisions are made based on politics rather than what’s right for the city. We certainly need congestion pricing, and it would be an outrage. Just for anybody to suggest that that’s the basis on which they’re going to make decisions, or that others would make a decision, I find reprehensible.”
Some Democrats saw the mayor’s largess to Republicans as reinforcing their doubts about the authenticity of his switch from Republican to independent last summer. Others wondered if the mayor, now that he has abandoned his presidential ambitions, is setting his sights on Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s job. He has previously rejected that suggestion.
The usually combative governor took the high road, as he has done since his political organization orchestrated an upset win in a special election for an upstate Senate seat last week.
“You know what, I’m not going to get into a back-and-forth,” the governor said when asked about the mayor’s comments.
“Mike and I have a great partnership,” he said, “and we are working on all the important issues for the state. And that’s how we work going forward. And we have done so. We will continue to do so. And a political contribution is a political contribution.”
(more at link)>>>>>>>>>>>>
And the truly sad ( and scary ) part: GLBT's voted 51-48 to reelect Mr. Republcan Marriage Equality last month, according to NYT exit polls.
How does that go again? "We tend to get the government we deserve"?
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