Outgoing state Senate majority leader Dean Skelos is planning another day of partisan posturing by rallying Republican lawmakers for a session in Albany that will accomplish just what last week's special Legislature session did: Nothing.

Skelos said this week that the Senate will meet Dec. 15 to pass a deficit reduction plan to address the current state budget. Hundreds of millions of dollars in savings can be realized, he said, by consolidating or eliminating some state agencies and authorities, cutting non-essential government spending, suspending state land purchases and dedicating existing state funds to deficit reduction.

These are all good ideas, except for one problem: While it may be a time-honored Albany tradition to pass one-house bills, it accomplishes absolutely nothing.

Furthermore, it will demonstrate that Skelos is insincere when he claims to be working to find a way to help New Yorkers. And the hands of any Senate Republicans - Michael Nozzolio included - who go along with this sham will be just as dirty.

Skelos and the rest of his caucus, after all, had been asked by Gov. David Paterson to come up with a list of potential midyear spending cuts prior to last week's emergency session, and they failed to bring anything to the table.

Skelos argued at the time that midyear cuts couldn't be made without first seeing Paterson's proposal for a 2009-10 state budget, so how is it that he's now prepared to deliver a plan the day BEFORE Paterson plans to present his new budget to the full Legislature?

Skelos claims to want to conduct public conference committees to negotiate and resolve differences with the Assembly, but he's also demonstrating that he's unwilling to do just that.

For Skelos to call on Paterson and the state Assembly to support the Senate's deficit reduction plan is political posturing at its worst.

We already know what that kind of politics accomplishes. Nothing.