The ascension of Assemblyman Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, to become the state Assembly's newest minority leader (the sixth in 11 years) may not change the way Albany does business, but sans the gimmicks of his predecessor, he will likely change the dynamic of the Assembly.

The new minority leader, who represents parts of Cayuga and Onondaga counties, has risen quickly in the GOP conference, which has a 41-109 membership disadvantage, passing many up the leadership ladder who have served longer. A great part of his success rests with his gregarious personality, quick wit and grasp of the odd facts that so often allow him to make a case for the minority against an overwhelmingly strong majority.

Unlike his predecessor, Assemblyman James Tedisco, who looked to be unceremoniously dumped by his fellow Republicans this week as he is in a tight race for Congress to succeed Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, you won't see a lot of gimmicks from Kolb. He has shied away from such during his four campaigns to represent this area, being known to arrive at a press conference with baseball caps to ask for a “tax cap” or long black stockings imprinted with “tax relief” worn at a leaders meeting on the state budget.

Instead you will likely see a tactician who will take on the Assembly majority and will be on the offensive, both on the floor of the Assembly, as well as working the media #- so as to get the message across about not only what the GOP believes, but poking at the Democratic majority.

While he might hope to change the numbers in the Assembly to give the Assembly Republicans 51 votes, just enough to have an impact if they wanted to block a gubernatorial override, that is not likely to be the case in the near future. Instead it is more likely he will seek to pick off a couple of vulnerable upstate Assembly Democrats who may have voted for the boondoggle of a budget that was passed last week.

Also, expect a lot of his time spent defending and protecting the minority that the Republican Conference now has, by making sure that they are not gerrymandered into further oblivion and uselessness, as was tried after the 2000 census (when it looked as if Assemblyman Gary Finch and Kolb would face off each other in a primary in 2002, eliminating one of them from the Assembly).

The GOP can't afford to see their numbers dwindle any more, and Kolb may be the person to stop the hemorrhaging.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com