1.
New York State Capitol
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The New York State Capitol, the seat of New York State government, is located in Albany, the capital city of the U. S. state of New York. The capitol building is part of the Empire State Plaza complex on State Street in Capitol Park, housing the New York State Legislature, the building was completed in 1899 at a cost of US$25 million, making it the most expensive government building of its time. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, the New York State Capitol was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1979. Legislative sessions had been held at different buildings in different places before Albany was declared the State capital in 1797, from that time until 1811, the State Legislature met at the Old Albany City Hall. The first State Capitol was inaugurated in 1812 and remained in use until 1879 when the current building was inaugurated, the present Capitol was built between 1867 and 1899. Three teams of architects worked on the design of the Capitol during the 32 years of its construction and they were managed by, 1867-75, Thomas Fuller, 1875–83, Leopold Eidlitz and Henry Hobson Richardson, 1883-99, Isaac G. Perry. Fuller, the architect, was an Englishman who also designed the Canadian Parliament buildings of Parliament Hill. The ground floor of the capitol was built in the Classical/Romanesque style. The increasing construction costs became a source of conflict in the legislature. Eidlitz and Richardson, were dismissed by Grover Cleveland upon his election to governorship and he hired Perry to complete the project. The legislative chambers, the floor and roof work were all finished in Victorian-modified Romanesque that was distinctively Richardsons design. It was Richardson who dominated the final outcome of the grand building and it is claimed that Richardson was imitating the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, France. The Chazy limestone for its construction was quarried at the Clark Quarry in Essex County, the central open court is dominated by a shaft intended to support a massive dome. The dome and tower were never completed, as it was found that the weight of the building was already causing stress fractures, to stop this movement, a very large, 166-foot long exterior Eastern Staircase was added to support the front facade. The Capitol exterior is made of granite from Hallowell, Maine. The granite structure is 220 feet tall at its highest point, underground tunnels connect it to the Empire State Plaza and Alfred E. Smith Building. The buildings exterior underwent restoration from 2000 until fall 2014, the Assembly Chamber was built with the largest open arched span in the world. However, this produced very inconvenient acoustic results, a more serious problem was that the shifting foundations of the whole structure made the vaults unstable
2.
Democratic Party (United States)
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The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The Democrats dominant worldview was once socially conservative and fiscally classical liberalism, while, especially in the rural South, since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democratic Party has also promoted a social-liberal platform, supporting social justice. Today, the House Democratic caucus is composed mostly of progressives and centrists, the partys philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state. It seeks to provide government intervention and regulation in the economy, the party has united with smaller left-wing regional parties throughout the country, such as the Farmer–Labor Party in Minnesota and the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota. Well into the 20th century, the party had conservative pro-business, the New Deal Coalition of 1932–1964 attracted strong support from voters of recent European extraction—many of whom were Catholics based in the cities. After Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s, the pro-business wing withered outside the South, after the racial turmoil of the 1960s, most southern whites and many northern Catholics moved into the Republican Party at the presidential level. The once-powerful labor union element became smaller and less supportive after the 1970s, white Evangelicals and Southerners became heavily Republican at the state and local level in the 1990s. However, African Americans became a major Democratic element after 1964, after 2000, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Americans, the LGBT community, single women and professional women moved towards the party as well. The Northeast and the West Coast became Democratic strongholds by 1990 after the Republicans stopped appealing to socially liberal voters there, overall, the Democratic Party has retained a membership lead over its major rival the Republican Party. The most recent was the 44th president Barack Obama, who held the office from 2009 to 2017, in the 115th Congress, following the 2016 elections, Democrats are the opposition party, holding a minority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a minority of governorships, and state legislatures, though they do control the mayoralty of cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D. C. The Democratic Party traces its origins to the inspiration of the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and that party also inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans. Organizationally, the modern Democratic Party truly arose in the 1830s, since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has generally positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues. They have been liberal on civil rights issues since 1948. On foreign policy both parties changed position several times and that party, the Democratic-Republican Party, came to power in the election of 1800. After the War of 1812 the Federalists virtually disappeared and the national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republican party still had its own factions, however. As Norton explains the transformation in 1828, Jacksonians believed the peoples will had finally prevailed, through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president
3.
Joseph D. Morelle
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Joseph D. Speaker Sheldon Silver appointed him as Majority Leader of the New York State Assembly in January 2013. As such, Morelle was Acting Speaker in the Speakers absence, Morelle was born in Utica, New York, and grew up in the town of Irondequoit, where he attended Eastridge High School. He went on to receive a degree in political science from SUNY Geneseo in 1986. He lives in Irondequoit with his wife, Mary Beth and they have three children, Lauren, Joseph Junior, Nicholas. In his early years, he was a manager for a drycleaning. Morelle, a Democrat, made his first foray into politics at the age of 24 when he ran for a seat in the Monroe County legislature and he failed to unseat the incumbent on the first try, but prevailed in the 1983 election. He was re-elected once before running for the New York State legislature, Morelle was first elected to the State Assembly in 1990. He ran uncontested in the November 2008 general election and won the November 2010 general election with 61 percent of the vote, Morelle has sponsored bills to exempt veterans from certain state licensing fees, protect their gravesites, and assist them with regard to the civil service application process. In January 2001, Morelle was appointed the Chairman of the Assembly Standing Committee on Tourism, Arts and he worked with area leaders to develop Rochester as a center for tourism and the arts in Western New York. At his request, the Speaker created the Subcommittee on Manufacturing in order to give New York’s manufacturing sector a greater voice in state government, in 2005, Morelle was elected chairman of the Monroe County Democratic Committee, and held this position until 2014. He was offered a plea to conduct on two counts. The signatures were for an Independent Party endorsement when he ran against Republican Mark S. Ogden, Morelle has never contested that he obtained the signatures in question fraudulently. A judge from the State Supreme Court ruled that he was in violation of election law, New York State Assembly member website Personal website
4.
Republican Party (United States)
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The Republican Party, commonly referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party. The party is named after republicanism, the dominant value during the American Revolution and it was founded by anti-slavery activists, modernists, ex-Whigs, and ex-Free Soilers in 1854. The Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932, there have been 19 Republican presidents, the most from any one party. The Republican Partys current ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats more progressive platform, further, its platform involves support for free market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defense, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions. In addition to advocating for economic policies, the Republican Party is socially conservative. As of 2017, the GOP is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928, in addition to holding the Presidency, the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress, having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a majority of governorships and state legislatures, the main cause was opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil, the first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement where the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20,1854, in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. The name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jeffersons Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 6,1854, in Jackson and it oversaw the preserving of the union, the end of slavery, and the provision of equal rights to all men in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877. The Republicans initial base was in the Northeast and the upper Midwest, with the realignment of parties and voters in the Third Party System, the strong run of John C. Fremont in the 1856 United States presidential election demonstrated it dominated most northern states, early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan free labor, free land, free men, which had been coined by Salmon P. Chase, a Senator from Ohio. Free labor referred to the Republican opposition to labor and belief in independent artisans. Free land referred to Republican opposition to the system whereby slaveowners could buy up all the good farm land. The Party strove to contain the expansion of slavery, which would cause the collapse of the slave power, Lincoln, representing the fast-growing western states, won the Republican nomination in 1860 and subsequently won the presidency. The party took on the mission of preserving the Union, and destroying slavery during the American Civil War, in the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. The partys success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s and those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished and was continued mostly to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant ran Horace Greeley for the presidency. The Stalwarts defended Grant and the system, the Half-Breeds led by Chester A. Arthur pushed for reform of the civil service in 1883
5.
Aravella Simotas
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She is the first woman elected to office from her district, and is the first Greek-American woman elected to office in New York. She immigrated to the United States from Greece and settled in Astoria with her parents,126, and William C. Bryant High School. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fordham University in 1999, during law school, she was the managing editor at the Fordham Environmental Law Journal. She first gained notice as the moderator at a Law Journal panel about citing electric generators in New York City under New York energy law. Simotas began her career in service as a district representative for Speaker of the New York City Council, Peter Vallone, Sr. and later for New York City Council member Peter Vallone. While at law school, she worked at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. After law school, Simotas served as a law clerk at the United States Court of International Trade and she later practiced law at Bickel & Brewer and worked with the Bickel & Brewer Storefront, an organization that provides legal representation to the economically challenged. Simotas served as a member of the Queens Community Planning Board 1, Simotas was first elected to office in 2010. She received the Democratic Party nomination and ran unopposed in the November 2,2010 general election, Simotas was unopposed in the 2012 Democratic primary. In the general election, she ran on both the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, and was opposed by Republican Julia Haitch. According to preliminary results collected by the Daily News, Simotas won re-election to the State Assembly, for the new District 36, in 2014, Simotas was named Chair of the Assembly’s Task Force on Women’s Issues. The Task Force works closely with Assembly committees, subcommittees, simotas’s “Rape is Rape” legislation, first proposed in 2012, has gained national attention. The bill, which passed the Assembly in 2013, would redefine and expand the definition of rape in New York, each March, Simotas and Representative Carolyn Maloney present awards for Womens History Month to three notable women at a “Celebrating the Women of Western Queens” event. Award recipients have included local women leaders in the fields of service, community organizing, education, public health, philanthropy. In January 2014, legislation introduced by Simotas to protect gas, under current law, customers may be charged based on estimated usage, which can result in customer overcharges that fail to be corrected or refunded. Throughout her first and second terms, Simotas worked with organizations, schools. She has worked to call for a reduction in waste and pollution throughout city streets, in addition to participating in, Simotas has been chairperson of Smart Power NY, a coalition to develop new energy sources for the area, since April 2012. Its first goal was to support the utility NRG Energy with their plan to replace its decades-old, NRG wants to replace 31 generators with new ones that will increase the megawatts of power while reducing emissions
6.
United States House of Representatives
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The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the Senate, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the House are established by Article One of the United States Constitution, since its inception in 1789, all representatives are elected popularly. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435, the House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration. The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members thereof and is traditionally the leader of the controlling party. He or she and other leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conferences. The House meets in the wing of the United States Capitol. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a body in which each state was equally represented. All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates, the issue of how to structure Congress was one of the most divisive among the founders during the Convention. The House is referred to as the house, with the Senate being the upper house. Both houses approval is necessary for the passage of legislation, the Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan, the Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4,1789. The House began work on April 1,1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time, during the first half of the 19th century, the House was frequently in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery. The North was much more populous than the South, and therefore dominated the House of Representatives, However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery, One example of a provision repeatedly supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican–American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War, the war culminated in the Souths defeat and in the abolition of slavery. Because all southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, the years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Unions victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877, the ensuing era, the Democratic and the Republican Party held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw an increase in the power of the Speaker of the House
7.
Wakefield, Bronx
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Wakefield is the northernmost neighborhood in New York City. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 12, the neighborhoods primary ZIP Code is 10466, with certain areas around East 241st Street and White Plains Road listed as 10470. Wakefield, like the rest of the Bronx, was mainly forested. Prior to this merger, Wakefield and the Bronx were politically part of Westchester County, formerly, Wakefield was home to large Irish American and Italian-American populations. During the 1980s, these communities were replaced with large African American populations,19. 6% of the population is Hispanic. Many residents are or are descended from Jamaican and West Indian immigrants, the 2000 United States Census reported a total of 68,787 residents. Wakefield was named after the Virginia plantation where George Washington was born, the neighborhood is home to the prominent all-male Catholic secondary school Mount Saint Michael Academy, which serves 1,100 students from grades 7-12. The all-female St. Barnabas High School is located further west in Woodlawn, though the crime rate has historically been high, like other sections of New York, Wakefield has shown a steep decline in both violent and non-violent crime. Many households in the area are headed by a single mother, the Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church located at 4360 Barnes Avenue is featured in the film. Lloyd Barnes - Jamaican music producer Darcel Clark - Present Bronx District Attorney Desus – comedian, Wakefield Branch of the New York Public Library Wakefield from Forgotten NY
8.
Ontario County, New York
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Ontario County is a county in the U. S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 107,931, Ontario County is part of the Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2006, Progressive Farmer rated Ontario County as the Best Place to Live in the U. S. for its schools, low crime, excellent health care. This area was controlled by the Seneca people, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. They were forced to cede most of their land to the United States after the American Revolutionary War, on July 3,1766 Cumberland County was organized, and on March 16,1770 Gloucester County was founded, both containing territory now included in the state of Vermont. The English claims were their assertion, the Five and then Six Nations of the Iroquois occupied and controlled most of the territory in central and this area was temporarily part of Montgomery County, renamed after the war for an American officer. Seth Reed, a Colonel in the Battle of Bunker Hill, four tribes had allied with the British and were mostly resettled in Canada, the Mohawk, Onondaga, Seneca and Cayuga. In 1789, Ontario County was split off from Montgomery, the territory first organized as Ontario County was much larger than at present and ran south from the shore of Lake Ontario. As the area was settled, new counties were organized, in 1796, Ontario County was divided and Steuben County was organized. In 1802, Ontario County was reduced when Genesee County was split off, the new county was originally very large, including the present Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming Counties and parts of Livingston and Monroe counties. In 1821, portions of Genesee County were combined with portions of Ontario County to create Livingston, in 1823, a portion of Seneca County was combined with a portion of Ontario County to create Wayne County. The same year, a portion of Steuben County was combined with a portion of Ontario County to create Yates County, in addition, independent sects developed in central and western New York during this period, including the Church of Latter Day Saints and the Shakers. Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, lived in Manchester in the 1820s on the border with Palmyra, several events in the early history of the movement occurred in Ontario County. Hill Cumorah in Manchester is where Smith said he discovered the Golden plates said to contain the writings known as the Book of Mormon. Smith visited the hill each year on the fall equinox between 1823 and 1827, and claimed to be instructed by the Angel Moroni, Smith said he was finally permitted to take the record on September 22,1827. He published the Book of Mormon in Palmyra in 1830, the 110-foot hill is on the main road toward Canandaigua from Palmyra to Manchester, it was a few miles from Joseph Smiths home. Since the 1930s The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has held the Hill Cumorah Pageant annually here and it regularly attracts thousands to its performances. The church also maintains a center at the hill, the Palmyra New York Temple
9.
Albany, New York
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Albany is the capital of the U. S. state of New York and the seat of Albany County. Roughly 150 miles north of New York City, Albany developed on the west bank of the Hudson River, the population of the City of Albany was 97,856 according to the 2010 census. With a Census-estimated population of 98,4242013, the Capital District is the third-most populous metropolitan region in the state and 38th in the United States. Fortune 500 companies that have offices in Albany include American Express, J. P. Morgan and Chase, Merrill Lynch, General Electric, Verizon, Goldman Sachs, International Paper, and Key Bank. In the 21st century, the Capital District has emerged as an anchor of Tech Valley. This was the first European settlement in the state, settled by Dutch colonists who built Fort Nassau for fur trading in 1614 and they formed successful relations with both the Mahican and the Mohawk peoples, two major Native American nations in the region. The fur trade attracted settlers who founded a village called Beverwijck near Fort Orange, in 1664 the English took over the Dutch settlements, renaming the city as Albany, in honor of the then Duke of Albany, the future James II of England and James VII of Scotland. The city was chartered in 1686 under English rule. It became the capital of New York State in 1797, following the United States gaining independence in the American Revolutionary War, Albany is one of the oldest surviving settlements of the original British thirteen colonies, and the longest continuously chartered city in the United States. Its charter is possibly the longest-running instrument of government in the Western Hemisphere. During the late 18th century and throughout most of the 19th, Albany was a center of trade, Albanys main exports at the time were beer, lumber, published works, and ironworks. Beginning in 1810, Albany was one of the ten most populous cities in the United States, in the 20th century, the city opened one of the first commercial airports in the world, the precursor of todays Albany International Airport. During the 1920s a powerful political machine controlled by the Democratic Party arose in the state capital and it marshalled the power of immigrants and their descendants in both cities. In the early 21st century, Albany has experienced growth in the high-technology industry, Albany has been a center of higher education for over a century, with much of the remainder of its economy dependent on state government and health care services. The city has rebounded from the decline of the 1970s and 1980s. Albany is known for its history, commerce, culture, architecture. Albany won the All-America City Award in both 1991 and 2009, Albany is one of the oldest surviving European settlements from the original thirteen colonies and the longest continuously chartered city in the United States. The Hudson River area was inhabited by Algonquian-speaking Mohican, who called it Pempotowwuthut-Muhhcanneuw
10.
Williamsbridge, Bronx
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Williamsbridge is a neighborhood geographically located in the north central Bronx borough of New York City in the United States. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 12 and its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are, East 222nd Street to the north, Boston Road to the east, East Gun Hill Road to the south, and the Bronx River to the west. White Plains Road is the primary thoroughfare through Williamsbridge, ZIP codes include 10466,10467, and 10469. The area is patrolled by the 47th Precinct located at 4111 Laconia Avenue, New York City Housing Authority property in the area is patrolled by P. S. A. 8 at 2794 Randall Avenue in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, the neighborhood was historically heavily Jewish and Italian-American. It became predominantly African American in the 1970s, and since the 1980s, has received an influx of Caribbean and West Indian immigrants, currently, the neighborhood is predominately African-American, much of this population being native-born people of Caribbean descent. Williamsbridge is dominated by multi-unit homes of various types, most of the private homes are two- and three-stories tall. The total land area is roughly a mile and a half, the area is low laying and flat. Beth Abraham Hospital is located on Allerton and Barker Avenues,96 - Richard Rodgers School is located at Olinville Avenue and Waring Avenue. There are three NYCHA developments located in Williamsbridge, baychester Houses,11 buildings, six-story tall. Edenwald Houses,40 buildings, three- and 14-story tall, the largest public housing development in Bronx. Gun Hill Houses, six buildings, 14-story tall, the Seventh Draft District World War I Monument located at East 219th Street and Bronx Blvd. and the park that surrounds it, has undergone a renaissance as of late. In addition to the Department of Parks cleaning up the area in 2008 and it incorporated as a village on November 23,1888. Olinville is a neighborhood name for the area around Olinville Avenue in Williamsbridge. It is mostly situated around White Plains Road between Allerton Avenue and Gun Hill Road, the New York City Department of City Planning has proposed zoning map changes for 36 blocks in the Williamsbridge/Olinville area. The proposed zoning would preserve the area’s lower density residential character, in addition, the DCP is proposing a zoning text amendment establishing a new citywide R5A district to address the unique detached housing stock found within this neighborhood. However, the height and density of existing housing is generally lower than is permitted under the current zoning. Clusters of one- and two-family homes are prevalent in parts of Williamsbridge and few buildings are higher than 70 feet
11.
New York Republican State Committee
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The New York Republican State Committee established 1855, is an affiliate of the United States Republican Party. Its headquarters are in Albany, New York, the purpose of the committee is to nominate Republican candidates for election to New York state and federal political roles. It also formulates Republican Party policy on New York State issues, the New York Republican State Committee was established in 1855, one year after the founding of the Republican Party by William H. Seward and Thurlow Weed. Initially, the committee met every three years to plan the Republican National Convention and it occasionally met during the election campaigning periods, the establishment of the Republican Party in New York in the 1850s was a difficult task. At the time, the nativist American Party, was active, however, the committee presented nominees from a party with well-recognized members, a defined set of principles, stable, powerful, well-known leaders and a well established structure. The committees nominees were first successful in 1856 and this gave native New Yorkers more votes than immigrants. It was not until 1974 that the US Supreme Court deemed this clause unconstitutional and this created a turmoil in the politics of New York because the Republican party lost its hold on the state legislature. Since 1959, Nelson Rockefeller and George Pataki were the two major Republican governors of New York. Until 1911, the New York Republican State Committee nominated its candidates through a primary or caucus system and this system meant the average voter had very little input as to who would be their choice for the state and federal offices. This system was out of practice after the passing of the Direct Primary Law in 1911. The committee, like its national body, promotes agriculture as an industry to strengthen the economy via its flow on effect. It cites the benefits to employment, small business and the industry as well as development of arable land for marketing. Senator Andrew Lanza, the chairman of the Ethics Committee, sponsored the Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011 which was signed into law in the week of August 14,2011, the Act focuses on financial disclosure of businesses and lobbyists and penalties for non-compliance. The committee promotes PACE financing for the purchase of energy infrastructure by New York citizens. Up front costs may be diffused over many years, the committee supports the construction of a smart grid in New York to provide cost and efficiency benefits in the supply of power. The New York Republican State Committee encourages the use of shale in southern New York for extraction of natural gas. In 2008, Governor David Paterson approved the extension of the drilling area, the committee agreed with the passing of the bipartisan Job Creation and Retention Package on 19 January 2011, where concessions were given to small business employers. The committee proposed a cap on property tax excluding new properties
12.
New York State Senate
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The New York State Senate is considered the upper house in the New York State Legislature. It has 63 members each elected to two-year terms, there are no limits on the number of terms one may serve. The New York Constitution provides for a number of members in the Senate. The current format for apportionment has followed the Supreme Court decision in Baker v. Carr, Democrats won 32 of 62 seats in New Yorks upper chamber in the 2008 General Election on November 4, capturing the majority for the first time in more than four decades. Previously, the Republicans had held the chamber for all but one year from 1939 to 2008, however, a power struggle emerged before the new term began. Four Democratic senators—Rubén Díaz, Sr. Carl Kruger, Pedro Espada, Jr. the self-named Gang of Four refused to back Malcolm Smith as the chambers majority leader and sought concessions. Monserrate soon reached an agreement with Smith that reportedly included the chairmanship of the Consumer Affairs Committee, though there were 32 Democrats and 30 Republicans in the Senate, on June 8,2009, then-Senators Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada, Jr. The move came after Republican whip Tom Libous introduced a resolution to vacate the chair and replace Smith as temporary president. In an effort to stop the vote, Democratic whip Jeff Klein unilaterally moved to recess, however, they were unable to stop the session. All 30 Republicans plus two Democrats, Monserrate and Espada, voted in favor of the resolution, in accordance with a prearranged deal, Espada was elected temporary president and acting lieutenant governor while Skelos was elected majority leader. Monserrate had backed out of the Gang at the time, being the first of the four to back Smith, the apparent Republican seizure of power was tenuous in any event. Smith claimed the vote was illegal because of Kleins motion to adjourn, however, Smith, Klein, and most of the Democrats walked out before an actual vote to adjourn could be taken. Smith still asserted he was majority leader and would challenge the vote in court and he locked the doors of the state senate chambers in an effort to prevent any further legislative action. The scheduled session was eventually postponed, both Monserrate and Espada faced accusations of unethical or criminal conduct. Monserrate was indicted for assault in March and would have automatically lost his seat if convicted. New York, like most states, has a provision in its constitution which bars convicted felons from holding office. Espada was the target of an investigation into whether he funded his campaign with money siphoned from a nonprofit health care agency he controls. The Bronx County District Attorneys office was investigating charges that Espada actually resided in Mamaroneck
