Jul 17, 2009 1:53 pm US/Eastern
Bloomberg: Police Should Drag Lawmakers Back
NYC Mayor Says Gov. Paterson Should Dispatch State Troopers To Drag Lawmakers Back Into Session
Mayoral Control Bill Expired Last Month; Senators Struggle To Finish Legislation For The Summer
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the governor should dispatch state troopers to haul state lawmakers back into session. (File)
CBS
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the governor should dispatch state troopers to haul state lawmakers back into session. He wants them to approve the bill giving him authority over city schools.
The 2002 law giving Bloomberg control of the nation's largest school system expired last month.
The mayor and the five borough presidents hastily appointed a school board to keep the system running. Back on July 1, the new board picked Schools Chancellor Joel Klein as the "new" chancellor and demanded that Albany pass the mayoral control bill.
Bloomberg has been urging the Legislature to pass mayoral control again before the academic year. Bloomberg has lambasted the lawmakers in the past, calling the "paralysis in Albany a laughingstock from coast to coast."
Senators passed dozens of other bills late Thursday and early Friday but struggled to finish for the summer, not reaching an agreement on mayoral control.
A Paterson administration official says it's not likely a special session will be called before Labor Day.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a judge postponed a decision on whether Paterson's appointment of Richard Ravitch as New York's lieutenant governor is constitutional.
State Supreme Court Justice William LaMarca heard arguments Wednesday from attorneys for the governor, who contend Paterson was within his rights.
Attorneys for two state senators opposed to the appointment also presented their case, contending there is no wording in the state constitution that allows for the appointment of a lieutenant governor.
LaMarca did not indicate when he might rule.
Paterson appointed Ravitch lieutenant governor last week to provide a tie-breaking vote in the state Senate, which was deadlocked until Sen. Pedro Espada rejoined the Democratic conference Thursday. That restored the slim 32-30 majority the Democrats had lost in a June 8 coup.
The 76-year-old Ravitch, a lawyer and real estate developer, has a history as a fix-it man but has never been elected to office.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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