The New York Observer » Tom Duane

GOP Lawmaker on Same-Sex Marriage: ‘Like Calling a Cat, a Dog’

Republican State Senator Mark Grisanti is being criticized for referring to animals in explaining his objection to same-sex marriage.

During a radio interview yesterday, Grisanti - a freshman from Buffalo whom Lady Gaga is targeting - said he'd support civil unions, but was uncomfortable with applying the term "marriage" to the relationship formed between same-sex couples.

GRISANTI: "I'm not Read More

Stabilization Now, Tomorrow and Forever?

In the world of tenant activists, 2009 was a year of tremendous optimism. And then it wasn’t.

Democratic control of the State Senate failed to provide any of the radical changes to rent laws that activists had long fought for—and that were expected once Republicans were booted from the majority. Deadlock dominated; the housing committee chair Read More

The Thousand Fathers of Marriage Inequality

ALBANY—What went wrong?

Despite the spin, most everyone pushing for a bill legalizing same-sex marriage privately acknowledges that the 24-38 loss in the State Senate was a whopper, and while theories abound, there's no clear explaination for how the bill was so soundly defeated.

Senator Eric Schneiderman started by blaming Republicans.

"If you look Read More

Pro-Marriage Spin: ‘Betrayal,’ ‘Road Map,’ ‘Contagious Lack of Backbone’

ALBANY—State Senator Tom Duane just shared his feelings on the chamber floor after the failure of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

"I'm angry, I'm disappointed, I'm sad, I'm let down, I'm betrayed, but I am not going away," Duane said. "It makes me angry, but it doesn't in any way make me or Read More

The Debate: Duane Says Little, Diaz Attacks His Leadership

ALBANY The debate on same-sex marriage in the State Senate started at 12:15 p.m. on Wednesday, December 2, 2009.

Senator Tom Duane, the chamber's only openly gay member and the bill's sponsor, spoke very briefly explaining the measure.

"This legislation would merely provide me and tens of thousands of other new Yorkers with equal Read More

Paterson Says That the Senate Has Secretly Promised to Vote on Same-Sex Marriage

ALBANY—A vote on same-sex marriage will be held "at a date not certain between now and the end of the year," David Paterson just promised publicly.

"This is the first time the Senate leadership has indicated that it will support a vote on marriage equality," Paterson said. He also committed to putting the bill Read More

Last Try for Same-Sex Marriage?

ALBANY—It's a Hail Mary pass for same-sex marriage.

State Senator Tom Duane, the measure's sponsor in that chamber, just walked across the back of the floor trailed by Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson and Eric Adams, his top lieutenant. Along with Senators Malcolm Smith, Eric Schneiderman and Deputy Majority Leader Jeff Klein, they walked Read More

Paterson Calls Special Session, But Will it Work?

ALBANY—David Paterson officially officially proclaimed a special session on Tuesday to consider his $3 billion plan to bridge a mid-year deficit as well as other miscellaneous legislative business, even though no budget-cutting agreements have been reached among the governor and legislative leaders.

Paterson's formal proclamation for the session is a political wish list: Read More

A Stuy-Town Simile

It looks like the elected officials who represent Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village are bracing for the complex to default, and they're already reminding the complex's lenders--Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--about how the lenders themselves needed a bit of help last year.

In a letter to Fannie and Freddie, the electeds--U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, Read More

GNYHA Cites Three Senators in Budget Opposition

ALBANY—The hospital lobby is using three State Senate Democrats as a shield in their fight against health care cuts David Paterson proposed in a $3 billion deficit reduction plan.

Ken Raske, CEO of the Greater New York Hospital Association, sent this memo to hospital heads and lobbyists, naming Carl Kruger, John Sampson Read More

Paterson: Same-Sex Marriage on the Agenda for the Special Session

Governor David Paterson has promised to put same-sex marriage on the agenda when he calls lawmakers back to Albany for a special session to deal with business left undone since the coup back in June.

“Marriage equality will be on the calendar,” Paterson told an audience at the Empire State Pride Agenda’s annual fund-raiser in Manhattan Read More

Tom Duane Gets Behind Thompson; Isay Democrats Don’t

After the Democratic Party's unity rally for Bill Thompson on Sunday, the campaign sent out a list of supporters that included a name I hadn't seen on there before: Tom Duane.

Duane, the state senator from Chelsea, didn't attend the event, but has officially come out in support of Thompson, a fellow Democrat.

Duane was Read More

Senate Dems Pondering School Control Deal

Democratic members in the State Senate are meeting now at 250 Broadway to discuss the "framework" of a deal on school governance, sources said.

As The Times reported, the deal would mirror proposals the conference put on the table last week. Senators would pass a bill that has already cleared the Assembly—a Read More

Bloomberg, Into the Albany Muck

In his second and final campaign event of the evening of July 20, Michael Bloomberg visited a steaming hot volunteer headquarters in Riverdale, where he talked about his attempts to narrow the achievement gap between minority and white students.

He was troubled.

“People said you couldn’t do anything about it in the last seven Read More

The Clock Is Ticking: Can Anyone Break the Statemate in Albany?

ALBANY—Sunday's extraordinary session of the still-chaotic State Senate was really extraordinary for one reason only: The Democrats set a new speed record of one minute, 55 seconds between gaveling in and gaveling out. They then returned to closed-door negotiations that, according to those involved, did not produce any agreement.

David Paterson called the Read More