ALBANY - A day after Democrats took majority control of the state Senate, Republican leader Dean Skelos' name was already 24 hours gone from the doors to the majority leader's suite, leaving scratch marks and paint smudges.
Democratic Sen. Malcolm Smith of Queens was voted the New York Senate's new majority leader Wednesday, reflecting its new 32-30 Democratic majority, a sea change after four decades.
Asked what he'd been thinking about the changeover, Skelos said, “I reflected on the fact that the last time it happened that it lasted for one year.”
Smith promised lawmakers would get to work next week, including taking a look at Senate rules changes meant to open up processes that had been long dominated by the Republican leadership. “We're going to do something on Monday, for sure,” he said.
At the majority leader's office suite in the romanesque Capitol building, behind the scratched wooden doors, a lone secretary sat Thursday among packed cartons of documents, beverages and other items set to go. She wasn't sure when.
At the minority leader's offices, a suite farther from the Senate chamber, an engraved sign hung next to the door Thursday: Malcolm Smith, Majority Leader. Staff there also weren't sure when the swap would come.
“The majority leader will be moving his upstate office tomorrow and over the weekend,” Smith spokesman Austin Shafran said later Thursday.
It was only the biggest and most obvious move in the game of office dominoes that follows an election. Most senators and Assembly members are in the modern Legislative Office Building next door. New committee chairmen get offices adjoining a committee's conference room. In the Senate, that has Democrats bumping Republicans.
Freshmen typically get lesser space than the longstanding lawmaker he or she replaced. Seniority matters. A lottery can break ties. Office size and configuration count, and higher spots in the 11-floor circa 1972 office building can have better views, but you don't have to move up if you're comfortable.
In the Assembly, any committee chair changes will be announced in the coming weeks. Its Democratic Conference has a handful of new members.
Asked what he'd been thinking about the changeover, Skelos said, “I reflected on the fact that the last time it happened that it lasted for one year.”
Smith promised lawmakers would get to work next week, including taking a look at Senate rules changes meant to open up processes that had been long dominated by the Republican leadership. “We're going to do something on Monday, for sure,” he said.
At the majority leader's office suite in the romanesque Capitol building, behind the scratched wooden doors, a lone secretary sat Thursday among packed cartons of documents, beverages and other items set to go. She wasn't sure when.
At the minority leader's offices, a suite farther from the Senate chamber, an engraved sign hung next to the door Thursday: Malcolm Smith, Majority Leader. Staff there also weren't sure when the swap would come.
“The majority leader will be moving his upstate office tomorrow and over the weekend,” Smith spokesman Austin Shafran said later Thursday.
It was only the biggest and most obvious move in the game of office dominoes that follows an election. Most senators and Assembly members are in the modern Legislative Office Building next door. New committee chairmen get offices adjoining a committee's conference room. In the Senate, that has Democrats bumping Republicans.
Freshmen typically get lesser space than the longstanding lawmaker he or she replaced. Seniority matters. A lottery can break ties. Office size and configuration count, and higher spots in the 11-floor circa 1972 office building can have better views, but you don't have to move up if you're comfortable.
In the Assembly, any committee chair changes will be announced in the coming weeks. Its Democratic Conference has a handful of new members.
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