It's back to work Tuesday! Well, except in Albany where state lawmakers don't return until tomorrow and have just 12 business days left before they head out of town for the rest of the year. But with corruption-busting U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara hovering over their thoughts, it may be hard for them to get much work done.
That could be a concern for the hundreds of thousands of New York City residents whose lives are governed by the certainty that their rent won't hit the roof because of rent stabilization laws – laws that are expiring next month.
One Republican State Senator explained in rather stark terms to the Daily News' Ken Lovett how the quid pro quo machine in Albany is getting gummed up by Bharara's work – and that the rent laws could become a casualty of fear.
"You just don't give rent control for nothing," the unnamed Republican told Lovett. "Usually it's part of a broader deal for something we want. Several members have talked about their uneasiness and nervousness of doing anything when they don't know what this guy (Bharara) will do."
Long gone are the days – if they ever existed – where state lawmakers held actual hearings and debates about important issues like rent stabilization. While it's unclear to me why a Buffalo lawmaker should have any say over an apartment on the Lower East Side, at least that legislator should be an expert on the subject before casting a vote.
Budget bills and complicated legislation like Governor Cuomo's gun-control bill sail through the legislature without any real discussion leaving a cleanup to be done later in the messy aftermath.
At this point, there is no time for any kind of real, substantive discussion on the merits of rent stabilization in the city; it will either get passed at the last minute or city residents will head to the State Capitol in a pitchfork brigade. It's no way for business to get done – but it's the only way Albany works these days.
Bob Hardt