Silver and Assembly Dems Defend Their “Democratic” Process

The way the Democratic members see it, openingpotentially contested votes up to all the members of the Assembly wouldbe a voluntary abdication of party advantage. The will of the majorityof Democrats, they point out, correctly, might not be done.

“If you had 44 Republicans and 32 Democrats, you couldtheoretically pass a bill that a majority of the Democratic conferenceopposed,” said Assemblyman Richard Brodsky of Westchester, who emergedas the vocal public leader of the opposition to congestion pricing.“That is not the way we run the system. And frankly, it’s not the waywe should run the system.”

Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, a good-government typefrom the East Side of Manhattan, explained it by saying, “The idea thatdemocracy did not occur here [because] it was not a floor vote reallyis incorrect. Democracy occurred with every member of the Assemblymajority providing the speaker with his or her views, whether it was inconference or when the speaker polled members.”

“The process works in ways in which the committee structure weeds outbad bills and kills them,” Mr. Brodsky explained. “In this case, theissue was so important that the conference substituted for a committeemeeting. It was a committee of the whole, as it were.”