Legislative replay: Democrats mistaken, confused

I was on vacation on May 14 when the Legislature held its last board meeting, so I had to catch up via the Legislature's streaming online video of the meeting. I'm starting to wish I hadn't been on vacation. (OK, that's a lie. Vacation was great. I just wish I hadn't missed that meeting.)

Here's why:

Resolution 136 would seem to be a mundane item, a boilerplate vote to authorize distribution of mortgage tax revenues to the cities, towns and villages. The money is significant – more than $1 million just for the Town of Poughkeepsie, more than $7 million across the county from six months worth of collections. The votes on such measures usually aren't significant. Unanimous approvals.

But this time all 12 Democrats voted against the measure. Huh?

I shouldn't have been surprised. All five Democrats in the Budget, Finance and Personnel Committee had voted against the measure days earlier. I found this odd, so I asked Minority Leader Roger Higgins afterward what the deal was. When he began to state the Democrats' case against the mortgage tax increase backed by the Republicans, I had to stop him. That was a different resolution, I said. This was just to distribute the money already collected.

Higgins seemed surprised and muttered something about a mistake being made in the vote. I didn't think much more about it, figuring the mistake would be corrected by the full board meeting.

It wasn't. The Democrats again voted no.

Later in the meeting, some seemed to realize their mistake and questioned the way the resolutions were presented. Here is my amateur transcription of the scene that took place, starring Chairman Gary Cooper, R-Pine Plains; Minority Leader Higgins, D-New Hamburg; Assistant Minority Leader Sandy Goldberg, D-Wappingers Falls, and Legislator Fred Bunnell, D-Poughkeepsie. The term "consent agenda" refers to uncontroversial resolutions that are approved together unanimously before debate moves to more controversial items.

HIGGINS: Could you go back and tell me when you pulled 136 out of the consent agenda? I don't think it was mentioned earlier that it was not in the consent agenda. And in fact – in fact, we all voted for the consent agenda earlier with that included in it.

COOPER: No, she did not read that.

HIGGINS: Can you – I'd like to see where that was stated whether it's on the video or in the minutes. I need to see that, because –

COOPER: That wasn't on the consent agenda.

HIGGINS: That's correct. I need to see some evidence of that, because frankly, when we voted for the consent agenda, we all assumed 136 was in the consent agenda. So I need you to show me some kind of evidence of that.

COOPER: Well, the evidence would be, if we played the tape back you would see 136 was not read, or the resolution was not read into the – as a consent agenda item. And it will be there. Legislator Goldberg.

GOLDBERG: Then I would just like to make a comment that my intention was always to vote for 136 —

COOPER: Well, we’re already past that.

GOLDBERG: — and when I assumed I had voted for it and didn’t realize – which was my mistake. I certainly apologize for that – but didn’t understand what we were voting on, and I just want the public record to state that. ...

BUNNELL: In a case such as I think is clearly illustrated by what Legislator Goldberg said – and I would echo for myself what she said – it was an honest confusion about this matter.