Since no one can technically run the State Senate without an actual majority to decide who it should be, Governor Paterson offered to step in. In an entreaty to both sides to get back into the chamber and start passing bills, Paterson said he’d be happy to go into session and run the chamber the way he used to when he was lieutenant governor (a role that is now empty since his elevation to governor). That way, at the very least votes could be held on bills that need to be passed before next week’s session ends. If not Paterson himself, the governor said he would voice no objection to having another independent official help handle uncontroversial but necessary legislation — like the authorization of taxes. “This would be a tremendous gesture on both sides,” Paterson told the Associated Press. “This is an offer made by the governor that I think will objectively solve the problem.” Of course, after Supreme Court Judge Thomas McNamara dismissed the appeal of Democrats to overturn the Republican majority that was claimed last week, the GOP side of the Senate rejected Paterson’s offer, and we’re back where we were this morning: nowhere.
