Skelos a winner too in this session

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is corralling the accolades and national media attention for successfully pushing a wide-ranging agenda in the recently concluded legislative session.

But Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, partly benefiting from Cuomo's coattails, has had a pretty good run, too.

Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), in his first full session as Senate leader, can, like Cuomo, tout an on-time state budget that cut overall spending, a new property-tax cap, a public-university tuition plan and a new ethics-disclosure law, experts said. He did this with the narrowest of margins -- Republicans hold a 32-30 advantage over Democrats in the Senate.

"Skelos did better than OK," said Bruce Gyory, a political consultant who was an adviser to then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer. "He was able to deliver on what he said to voters last fall: return the Senate to the Republicans and we'll get you a good budget, an on-time budget and a property-tax cap. And they got that."

The Senate had been marked by chaos and gridlock for much of the last two years, when Democrats were in control. Returned to power with a Republican majority this year, Skelos said he wanted to "show that New York State government can function."

Though most of the credit goes to Cuomo, Skelos played a role, political experts said.

"When you compare the way the Senate ran in 2011 to the way it ran in 2009 and 2010," said Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg, "one has to say, from a procedural view, the Senate ran smoother. . . . Given the accomplishments, you could call it one of the most successful legislative sessions in a generation."

Here are some of the issues Skelos has dealt with:

The same-sex marriage vote

Though Skelos opposed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in New York -- which passed in the final, dramatic act of the session -- he's earned praise for allowing the GOP-controlled Senate to vote on the measure. As leader of the chamber, he could have blocked the bill from coming to the floor for a vote.

Experts said Skelos was better off dealing -- and dispensing -- with the issue this year rather than next, a presidential election year that traditionally hurts the entire Republican ticket in New York.

State Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola) "should breathe a sigh of relief" that not only is gay marriage off the table but also rent control -- which impacts thousands of tenants in Nassau County -- Gyory said. Martins won election by just 451 votes last fall, and Democrats could have used those two issues to easily generate enough support -- and campaign donations -- to unseat the freshman senator, he said.

As for allowing a vote on same-sex marriage, Skelos said he wanted to keep an election-year promise.

"It was probably over a year ago that I indicated it would be a vote of conscience," Skelos said. "If the [Republican] conference made a determination that there should be a vote, then there would be a vote.

"I was in favor of bringing it to a vote," he continued. "I just think on certain legislation the people of the state are entitled to a vote. Yes or no."

Redistricting

Skelos came under heavy criticism from Democrats and good-government groups for failing to agree to an independent commission to draw lines for new legislative and congressional election districts, after he had promised to do so last fall. He said a commission proposed by Cuomo would be stacked in Democrats' favor.

The party in charge of either chamber traditionally has drawn the lines -- typically in their favor -- and observers said Skelos doesn't want to give up the most powerful tool the GOP has for retaining a majority. A task force will begin drawing maps this fall.

Major Legislation

Senate Republicans backed a new State University of New York tuition plan that supporters say will boost faculty and local economic development. They also backed a new power-plant siting law. And, in the budget negotiations, Cuomo and Skelos teamed up to block a renewal of the so-called "millionaires' tax."

"The governor will, generally speaking, set the agenda," Greenberg said. "Some of the governor's major issues were also important for Skelos. So he benefited from a collective agenda."

At a ceremonial signing of the tax-cap bill Thursday in Lynbrook, Skelos, standing next to Cuomo, said: "It's been a great partnership."

"Who would ever think you'd see that?" said Nicholas Spano, a former Republican senator from Westchester, now a lobbyist. "At the end of the session, [Skelos] is being embraced by the governor. Very often, sessions end with governor and majority leader not speaking to each other."