ALBANY - Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno told Gov. Eliot Spitzer last week in a closed-door state budget meeting that Senate Democratic leader Malcolm Smith, the governor's ally, had his head up Spitzer's ... er ... executive chamber.
Only Bruno is said to have used a different word to describe that certain part of the governor's anatomy.
The Democratic governor, allegedly aghast, said such vulgarity wasn't appropriate in the governor's office and he abruptly ended the meeting.
Spitzer then stepped into his ante room and laughed, said a witness.
It was the closing act of a weeklong engagement in Albany filled with insults in front of cameras and biting sound from behind podiums, including senators calling each other rats in a floor debate. In between, however, were off-camera handshakes, compliments and backslaps.
So what should New Yorkers take from last week's antics relayed in breathless blog reports and headlines including: “SPITZER AND BRUNO TRADE .%! BOMBS” and “Gloves come off at the Capitol”?
Not much, say those familiar with Albany's budget-time blowups - whether real, perceived or staged.
“My guess is it sounds like a wisecrack,” said independent pollster Lee Miringoff, head of Marist College's Institute for Public Opinion.
“I suspect Spitzer didn't blush at the comment,” he said with a laugh. Miringoff noted the governor has been known to make some heated and colorful rebukes, too, recently calling himself a “steamroller” to a dissenting lawmaker.
“That sounds like a couple guys in the same line of work,” said Maurice Carroll, longtime New York political reporter and now pollster for Quinnipiac University. “They do it with a wink and nod ... most political fights are of that sort - they aren't to be taken seriously.”
Neither pollster thought the incident had “legs” with the public, if New Yorkers outside the Capitol cared much in the first place. But several repeat performances might not be well reviewed by voters, they noted.
Here's how the Spitzer-Bruno event happened on Wednesday, according to top staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the meeting was private: Spitzer sought to include Smith, the Senate minority leader, in a budget meeting and Bruno didn't want his rival invited. Then Bruno was said to have made the comment that Smith was so unnaturally close to Spitzer that he wouldn't even be able to see to find the room.
“It's not uncommon,” said the witness. “Nobody takes it that seriously. Afterwards, you chuckle about it.”
The same stuff happened during budget talks during the Pataki administration, said a former official for Gov. George Pataki.
Speculation, which fuels much of Albany's budget frenzy each spring, immediately focused on the confrontation and its effect on budget talks.
But budget negotiations involving the staff of Spitzer and Bruno resumed, as scheduled, the next morning.
If anything, the Spitzer-Bruno incident may have been the first 2007 entry into another Albany truism: You need at least three blowups before a budget can be settled.
Why?
There's no a rational answer but it seems that only on the brink of collapses can budget negotiations lurch forward. Names are called, motives are called into question, press conferences are held, then the governor and legislative leaders go back to a closed room to negotiate.
On Friday, Bruno told reporters that Spitzer was too temperamental to be governor and blamed Spitzer for leaking the private incident to the press. But then Bruno said he's ready to work with the governor on the budget and even credited Spitzer's leadership for several agreements already this year.
Even Smith, the butt of Bruno's comment, wouldn't say the next day that he was offended.
“I'll ask the governor if there is room for him to come on up there, too,” a laughing Smith said of Bruno on Thursday. “I think he's under a lot of pressure. I'm praying for him. I think things will be all right.”
Budget negotiations are scheduled to begin in earnest Monday with all sides saying they expect a budget to be settled by the April 1 start of the fiscal year.
The Democratic governor, allegedly aghast, said such vulgarity wasn't appropriate in the governor's office and he abruptly ended the meeting.
Spitzer then stepped into his ante room and laughed, said a witness.
It was the closing act of a weeklong engagement in Albany filled with insults in front of cameras and biting sound from behind podiums, including senators calling each other rats in a floor debate. In between, however, were off-camera handshakes, compliments and backslaps.
So what should New Yorkers take from last week's antics relayed in breathless blog reports and headlines including: “SPITZER AND BRUNO TRADE .%! BOMBS” and “Gloves come off at the Capitol”?
Not much, say those familiar with Albany's budget-time blowups - whether real, perceived or staged.
“My guess is it sounds like a wisecrack,” said independent pollster Lee Miringoff, head of Marist College's Institute for Public Opinion.
“I suspect Spitzer didn't blush at the comment,” he said with a laugh. Miringoff noted the governor has been known to make some heated and colorful rebukes, too, recently calling himself a “steamroller” to a dissenting lawmaker.
“That sounds like a couple guys in the same line of work,” said Maurice Carroll, longtime New York political reporter and now pollster for Quinnipiac University. “They do it with a wink and nod ... most political fights are of that sort - they aren't to be taken seriously.”
Neither pollster thought the incident had “legs” with the public, if New Yorkers outside the Capitol cared much in the first place. But several repeat performances might not be well reviewed by voters, they noted.
Here's how the Spitzer-Bruno event happened on Wednesday, according to top staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the meeting was private: Spitzer sought to include Smith, the Senate minority leader, in a budget meeting and Bruno didn't want his rival invited. Then Bruno was said to have made the comment that Smith was so unnaturally close to Spitzer that he wouldn't even be able to see to find the room.
“It's not uncommon,” said the witness. “Nobody takes it that seriously. Afterwards, you chuckle about it.”
The same stuff happened during budget talks during the Pataki administration, said a former official for Gov. George Pataki.
Speculation, which fuels much of Albany's budget frenzy each spring, immediately focused on the confrontation and its effect on budget talks.
But budget negotiations involving the staff of Spitzer and Bruno resumed, as scheduled, the next morning.
If anything, the Spitzer-Bruno incident may have been the first 2007 entry into another Albany truism: You need at least three blowups before a budget can be settled.
Why?
There's no a rational answer but it seems that only on the brink of collapses can budget negotiations lurch forward. Names are called, motives are called into question, press conferences are held, then the governor and legislative leaders go back to a closed room to negotiate.
On Friday, Bruno told reporters that Spitzer was too temperamental to be governor and blamed Spitzer for leaking the private incident to the press. But then Bruno said he's ready to work with the governor on the budget and even credited Spitzer's leadership for several agreements already this year.
Even Smith, the butt of Bruno's comment, wouldn't say the next day that he was offended.
“I'll ask the governor if there is room for him to come on up there, too,” a laughing Smith said of Bruno on Thursday. “I think he's under a lot of pressure. I'm praying for him. I think things will be all right.”
Budget negotiations are scheduled to begin in earnest Monday with all sides saying they expect a budget to be settled by the April 1 start of the fiscal year.
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