Update: Democrats convened a session and tried to pass non-controversial items including Power for Jobs. They thought they had the 32 necessary votes because Republican Senator Frank Padavan was in the chamber briefly and was thus counted as a "yes" vote. However Padavan later phoned Governor Paterson saying he was only passing through the chamber as a shortcut before the session convened. Paterson then said he would not sign any bills approved in the session and ordered all Senators to convene at 7 p.m. Paterson was joined in a press conference by county executives and other county officials from around the state and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg via satellite, all of them urging the Senate to do its job.Albany (WSYR-TV) – Members of the State Senate met in Chambers for approximately 15 minutes, but like previous times, they did not get any work done.
The Democratic roll call took place with no Republican members in the chamber. As the Democrats asked for a list of all the senators that were not present, the Senate Republicans began to file in, as their names were read.
As the Republicans filed in, Democratic Senate Leader Malcolm Smith immediately asked for the Senate to be at ease; an attempt by the Republican leader Dean Skelos was not recognized by the chair.
Sen. Skelos said the Republican leadership did not recognize the chair, since in their opinion; Sen. Pedro Espada was elected as President of the Senate earlier in the month.
Democratic Senator Klein adjourned the session.
