Dissidents meet to end NY Senate standoff

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July 7, 2009

Anonymous The Press Republican Tue Jul 07, 2009, 10:42 AM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The self-described "amigos" who've threatened the Democrats shaky majority in New York's Senate say they're meeting to end the standoff that's paralyzed the chamber since a coup two of them helped engineer.

Democratic Sens. Ruben Diaz and Pedro Espada of the Bronx, Carl Kruger of Brooklyn and Hiram Monserrate of Queens are meeting Tuesday for the second time in two days to negotiate an end to the conflict.

Espada was elected Senate president by a Republican-dominated coalition that voted to topple the Democratic majority on June 8. Monserrate was the key 32nd vote in the coup, but soon after returned to the Democratic fold.

After Democrats won the majority in the November elections, Diaz and Kruger flirted with flipping to the Republicans to create a GOP majority.