Tales from the Coup: Wayward Majority

Progressive activists in New York frustrated by the pace of change during this year's legislative session, would have been sorely disappointed by the progress made 10 years earlier in Albany. Heading into the 2009, there was an expectation that with Democrats controlling all the levers of state government, a liberal wish list - long bottled up by Republican control of the state Senate - would be easy to accomplish at the Capitol. But the legislative session would be anything but easy for Democratic lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson, as they wrestled with a multi-billion dollar deficit, a bailout for public transit system in New York City, and a Senate majority that was rarely on the same page. This journey is the subject of the second episode of Times Union's podcast series diving into the "Senate Coup" of 2009, which brought state government to a halt. New episodes will be available every Friday and a live forum commemorating the 10th anniversary of the coup will be held at the Hearst Media Center in Colonie on May 7. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices