WXXI: Senator Smith One Seat Away from Majority Post (2008-03-06)

Senator Malcolm Smith, the leader of the Democrats in that house, is just one seat away from potentially becoming Majority Leader. Smith, who is careful these days not to be over- confident, nevertheless has a number of ideas about what he'd do, if he comes to power.

When Democrats won a special election February 26th, they became tantalizingly close to gaining control of the Senate for the first time in forty years. The balance is now 32 Republicans and 30 Democrats.

The man who could be just one Senate seat away from becoming the new Majority Leader, Senator Malcolm Smith, is being very careful not to gloat. Smith, who grew up in Jamaica, Queens and now represents the area as part of his Senate district, says he prefers to focus right now on current challenges, like the giant state budget deficit.

"To get into the Majority is critical," said Smith, who said that he considered the possibility of being Majority Leader a "selfish" reason, though, to get excited. "The bigger reason is to take care of (the state's)19 million people," said Smith.

The rhetoric has been toned down since early 2007, when Senate Democrats were giddy after a win in another special election, and for the first time it seemed that a takeover of the Senate was tangible. But Republicans, who are struggling to hang on to their seats, have begun arguing that Democratic control of the Senate would mean that the needs of the already neglected upstate areas would be further ignored, since all of the major politicians in the state would be from downstate. Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno spoke just after the special election.

"We represent the balance here," Bruno said. "I think this is going to be a wake up call."

Smith denies other regions of the state would lose their representation in the Senate if Democrats takeover. He says one of the reasons, is that the Democratic conference is becoming more diverse. He cites the recent victory of Darrell Aubertine, a conservative leaning farmer who will now represent a district that includes Watertown and Oswego. And Smith says he has owned a second home in Senator Bruno's district in Rensselaer County for 23 years.

Smith, who is thin, energetic, and who looks younger than his 52 years, attended Fordham University, has an MBA from Adelphi and a certificate from Harvard's program on negotiations. He heads a real estate development company involved in community revitalization. He is not a stereotypical liberal democrat, and says he's more of a personal responsibility type. He is religious, and begins every day at the office with prayers.

"I have certain psalms that I say, certain passages in the bible that I read," Smith said. "It helps me set myself up for the day."

Smith is married with two children, and is a member of the Reverend Floyd Flake's mega church in Queens. Smith worked for Flake when he was a congressman. He got his start working for a city Council member, and really got a taste for politics in 1984, doing advance work for Queens congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro's groundbreaking campaign for Vice President. Smith also worked as an assistant to former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, and says he learned a lot from him, including how to be "bold and authentic".

One of Smith's actions as leader is to choose a theme each week for all of his Democratic members and their staffs to reflect upon. This week, it happened to be "Authenticity". Like a good student who's newly learned a vocabulary word, Smith used the term when he later addressed a gathering of hospital executives in town to lobby for more money. He also told them what he said they probably didn't want to hear, that there would be some pain before health care is settled.

"Whether you like it or not, it is a mess," Smith told the hospital group. "We have to be authentic enough to say we're going to sit around the table, even with our opposition, and talk about how to clean this up."

Republicans have charged that if Democrats come to power in the Senate Smith would do the bidding of Governor Eliot Spitzer. But Smith says that's "ridiculous" and a "scare tactic". He says he supports the governor, but is his own person. For example, he says, he proposed not filling thousands of state jobs left empty through retirement and other changes, in order to save money, a plan that angered state worker unions and that the governor rejected. Smith says he believes that the real difference if he were to gain the post of Majority Leader, is that no matter how bad the arguments get, he'll always negotiate, and try not to let the state lapse into gridlock.