Democracy in action

On the surface, this may not look like the greatest week the New York legislature has ever had, but it did accomplish something of significance.

Sure, it adopted a joke of a deficit-reduction plan that merely puts off hard decisions for a few months, in essence digging the state's fiscal hole even deeper than it was. The action reinforced the notion that when the going gets tough, most lawmakers just want to duck.

Even the "reform'' of higher pension contributions that was part of the package was marred by enough giveaways to unions to make those worried about the long-term fiscal health of the state whether it was worth it.

The more significant action, though, was the defeat by the state Senate of a bill to legalize same-sex marriages, which failed 38-26.

While obviously a setback for the cause of marriage equality, the vote was a rare instance of lawmakers going on record on an issue that didn't pass.

More typically, leaders count heads and not make their members make a "tough'' vote if the issue was likely to voted down.

But this time, because of intense pressure from supporters of the idea and some arm-twisting by (he admittedly weak) Gov. Paterson, the issue was brought to a vote and many lawmakers who had been firmly on the fence had to come down on one side or the other.

Unfortunately there was little debate, with only one lawmaker on the prevailing side bothering to explain his position.

The supporters have vowed to work to unseat those who voted no and replace them with people who share their views. The opponents say they'll work on the other side.

That's how the system is supposed to work, but rarely does at the Capitol.