The New York State Senate is on Twitter. If you like, you can click on the link and become a follower. We wanted to find out what our elected representatives were doing so we clicked on some of the links. What did we find? Governor Paterson is suing all 62 senators. The senators, because they are deadlocked over who is actually running the place, have come up with temporary rules “To allow the New York State Senate to vote on critical issues.” Yet, as the Daily News reported yesterday, “Do-Nothing Senate Misses Deadline for Passing Key Bills.” No one knows who will run the city’s public schools. And the senators rejected the city’s income tax plan. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said this move will cost the city $60 million a month. (The New York Times, by the way, seems so bored with the entire spectacle that the story was relegated to page 25).

So here we are, two days away from celebrating the most historic meeting in our nation’s history where a group of courageous men (backed up by courageous women) signed the Declaration of Independence resulting in the birth of our nation. What would those leaders—Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin—think of this circus we now have going on in Albany? And what would they think of the lack of outrage that is being displayed by New Yorkers? Are we protesting in the streets? Calling our senators? Driving to Albany to picket outside the capital? Contrast that inaction to the crowds that assembled outside the Apollo Theater to honor Michael Jackson. If our Founding Fathers were as apathetic as we appear to be, we would still have a queen.

Governor Paterson tried to rally the populace, asking that we call our state senator to voice our displeasure. So we called Senator Liz Kruger to find out what she is doing to help turn things around. Senator Kruger represents the 26th District, population 311,260, located entirely in Manhattan and including the neighborhoods of Midtown, the Upper East Side, Murray Hill, Times Square, Lenox Hill, Yorkville and parts of many others. Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History are also located entirely in the district that stretches from 19th street up to 103rd street. The East River borders the district to the East, and it extends as far west as Eighth Avenue. The median income is more than $75,000, so we are talking about a group of people who are largely educated and informed. (Speaking of informed, do you know the name of your state senator?)

Senator Kruger has been blogging on her website about the stalemate in Albany. “The events that have taken place during the last three weeks in New York State’s Capitol have been so shocking and so surreal that I doubt the best Hollywood screenwriters could have written such a story,” she writes. Further along in her blog she observes: “So, here we are on July 1st and you are demanding resolution, if not an actual functioning government….Clearly, we need to work out an agreement to conduct business in an evenly split chamber. Other states have done so. And we can adopt new rules to provide for the ability for rank and file members to move bills to the floor for debate and vote, establish equitable distribution of staff and member resources, and either create a rationale system for distributing member items or end the practice.”

We asked to speak directly to Senator Kruger but her Communications Director Kyle Sklerov told us he was unable to reach her. (It seems implausible that a state senator during this time of crisis would remain unreachable to her press representative). He did tell us that the senator has been receiving many calls. How many? He couldn’t say, but we didn’t get the impression that the office had been forced to bring in a phalanx of people to handle all those calls.

“People are angry that things are not moving,” Sklerov said. He encouraged people to contact their state senators and tell them how they feel. Senator Kruger, he said, “feels motivated when she hears from her constituents.”

Before we can motivate Senator Kruger and her colleagues, however, we need to motivate ourselves. Ultimately we can vote these senators out of office. But we won’t have that opportunity until November, and a lot could happen between now and then. Albany may seem disconnected to New York City, but what happens up there affects all of us. Pick up the phone and call.

Senator Liz Kruger
New York: 211 East 43rd Street
Suite 1300
New York, NY 10017
212-490-9535
www.lizkruger.com
e-mail: liz@lizkruger.com