What You Should Know

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz

32nd Senatorial District, Bronx County, New York

Tel. 718-991-3161

Senator Dean Skelos ate all of the candy…..He’s got #63.

In the latest negotiations for the New York State Senate district lines, Senator Dean Skelos has proven himself to be the smartest one of all.

He played the used-car dealer trick. You know the trick – when someone has an old vehicle and asks for more than he really wants, knowing that the buyer will think he or she is so smart and such a great negotiator, that he or she can actually bargain with the dealer. If the owner really wants $500 for the car, he asks for $700. The buyer, believing he or she is such a skilled negotiator and gets the owner to 'drop' the price to $500. This is just what the dealer hopes will happen. The buyer walks away from the deal bragging that he or she worked so hard and got the owner to drop the price $200 less than what the price used to be, but the dealer got exactly what he always wanted.

That was precisely the trick that Senator Dean Skelos, the Senate Majority Leader, used to fool Governor Cuomo, Speaker Silver, and everyone else. He got exactly what he wanted: Senate seat #63.

As you know, in order for the Republicans to maintain the majority, the Majority Leader needed to design a way to add one more seat to the current 62 Senate seats. The goal of getting that extra Senate seat was so that it would be in an area where it would be most likely for a Republican to win. This way the Republicans could keep the majority.

That said, Senator Dean Skelos must have delighted seeing everyone busy fighting for other things so that he could focus his real efforts in getting his 63rd Senate seat.

With that magnificent and extraordinary maneuver, Senator Skelos ate all of the candy, leaving everyone else to collect the crumbs.

I’ve said it before in my columns that there is no way that Democrats will come back as the Majority in the State Senate unless we start negotiating with Senator Jeff Klein and his Independent Democratic Conference members. With Senator Dean Skelos' new ploy in motion, our chances of doing so are slipping right through our hands.

I am Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz and this is what you should know.