Unsatisfied with New York senators’ effort to resolve their paralyzing power dispute, Gov. David Paterson is ordering a special session beginning Tuesday that he said could compel senators to stay in Albany every day, including weekends and the July 4 holiday, until they act.

Although a governor can compel legislators into special session and set the agenda of bills to be considered, lawmakers can’t be forced to vote on or debate those bills.

Gov. David Paterson made the announcement in an unusual Sunday press conference. He called the senators’ actions “laughable.”

“I will convene a special session every day until they do,” Paterson said. “That means Saturdays, Sundays, that includes July 4, there will be no excuses and there will be no tolerance to noncompliance with this order.”

The regular session is scheduled to end Monday.

Paterson said that according to the law, the governor has no authority over the Senate in session, but that once the session ends, he will inconvenience them by compelling them to enter special session, as the Senate inconvenienced New Yorkers.

A Republican-dominated coalition seized power in a contested June 8 revolt over the Democratic conference that won a majority of seats in the November election.

The Democratic conference has boycotted the coalition-run sessions in the last two weeks.

Democratic Sen. Pedro Espada, who is a leader in the coalition, says he expects an agreement to be struck before Monday. He told a Latino group in Albany that any resolution must include power sharing in the fractured Senate.

“What we’re putting together is something that will … create a bipartisan government where 62 senators can co-chair committees,” Espada said before the League of United Latin American Citizens. “Each of them could bring votes onto the floor. In other words, the end of this absolute power.”

Paterson is appointing two statesmen to mediate the two-week-long power struggle that has gridlocked New York’s Senate. Paterson also announced that the state’s top judge may preside over a special session of the Senate he will call if senators can’t settle the dispute by early next week.

Paterson says former Democratic Lieutenant Gov. Stan Lundine and former Republican state Sen. John Dunne have agreed to act as mediators. Both men are well respected in both parties. Senate leaders would have to accept that help.

The Democratic governor also says Chief Judge Jonathan Lippmann will preside over a tentatively set special session to pass critical bills that have been delayed.

(Source: WCBSTV)