Dems planning to attend session

The handful of Democratic state senators, including Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, who initially agreed to attend a joint session scheduled for Monday by Gov. David A. Paterson may have helped get the ball rolling for fellow Democrats to join the meeting.

Sen. Aubertine and other members of the Senate majority's Upstate Caucus, including David J. Valesky, Syracuse, and William T. Stachowski and Antoine M. Thompson, both of Buffalo, and Neil D. Breslin, Albany, along with non-caucus member Craig M. Johnson, Port Washington, said Thursday they would attend the joint session.

On Thursday, Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson, Brooklyn, said he would not call party members back to Albany for the Monday session. One party leader anonymously dismissed the speech as a "photo op" because there are no budget agreements in place.

Senate majority spokesman Austin Shafran later announced that Democratic senators had recanted and will attend the Monday session.

The state constitution gives the governor the power to force lawmakers into a special legislative session to conduct business, but not into the more ceremonial joint session.

"Some difficult decisions are going to have to be made and those decisions can't be made in a vacuum," Sen. Aubertine said Friday. "To have this opportunity to hear what the governor has to say about what he has proposed is very important, which is why I've intended to be there all along."

Sen. Valesky's spokeswoman, Jessica DeCerce, agreed the senator was driven to attend by economic issues facing the entire state.

The Democrats' short-lived defection from the meeting gave Republicans ample time to take potshots at the party.

"After hearing reports that the Senate Democrat Conference will not return and be part of next week's process, I find their reluctance inexplicable and completely disrespectful not only to the Governor and our Legislative colleagues but most importantly to the residents of our state," Republican Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb, Canandaigua, said in a prepared statement.

He later called the Democratic senators the "conference of no" because of their unwillingness to attend the governor's Monday address. The Senate's Republican minority and the Assembly's Democratic majority and Republican minority immediately agreed to attend the event.

Both parties said they would attend the extraordinary legislative session called by the governor for Tuesday to address the current-year deficit and additional legislation not addressed when the Legislature adjourned in June.

"The time to act is now. The deficit reduction plan, while painful, is necessary to keep our state afloat," Gov. Paterson said in a prepared statement. "New York can no longer afford delays, and New Yorkers will no longer stand for delays. I have met with my colleagues in government and I understand and agree with the need to lessen the impact that these reductions will have on all New Yorkers, but the surest way to mitigate the pain is to act now."

Midyear spending cuts in school aid and health care spending, along with measures to raise revenue, are on the agenda. Also on the agenda is legislation to allow same-sex couples to enter into civil marriages.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.