By David Cruz
Correspondent
They began arriving just after 10 a.m., a cross-section of Democrats, survivors of this week’s political turmoil, trudging back to the scene of contention and intrigue, in the hopes of hammering out a new compromise Atlantic City rescue bill. The speaker has cleared his schedule — he says — through Tuesday but it’s anybody’s guess if this is the beginning of a genuine 11th hour compromise or another fool’s errand.
“It’s one day at a time,” said Assemblyman Gary Schaer as he arrived for the meeting.
One day at a time is as good as it’s going to get here right now. The Senate president, who, depending on who you talk to, agreed or was never asked to attend this morning’s session, was nowhere to be seen. And if the tone of yesterday’s dueling press conference is any indication, this morning’s exercise could prove to be too little, too late.
“He has offered nothing,” Senate President Steve Sweeney snapped at his tense press conference yesterday. “The speaker constantly said I’m about policy, not politics. Well, it was about politics and not policy. Leadership means leading. I had enough of this now. The speaker proved today he could not pass his own bill.”
As for the speaker, he was cheery this morning when he arrived, looking not at all like someone who’d been handed a pretty strong rebuke less than 24 hours earlier.
Did Vincent Prieto see yesterday as a defeat for him?
“Absolutely not and this is not about me,” he responded. “Yesterday, what happened was I couldn’t get to 41 and I’ll be the first one to admit it because there were members who — for one reason or another — could not make it.”
Which set off a day-long drama that saw caucuses and back room meetings and a lot of standing around before the scheduled vote got unscheduled, which brought us to the majority party caucus today. After meeting for more than two hours, members emerged touting a party line buoyant with optimism.
“I know everyone is taking great delight that we’re throwing tomatoes at one another, one chamber to the other, but at the end of the day it is a majority caucus in the Assembly; there’s a majority caucus in the Senate and I think that, when we get to the end of this process, we’re going to come to the table and do what’s right for the people of Atlantic City,” predicted former Speaker Sheila Oliver.
But how will they solve this without the Senate?
“Well, we have people in that room who have relationships with the Senate and I’m sure they’re going to be communicating with them and hopefully that’ll work,” said Assemblyman Ralph Caputo.
Prieto said he thought it was productive session, if inconclusive.
“Everything’s fluid,” he said. “There’s a lot of framework put together and seeing where everybody can agree, so I really don’t have anything to report except a good dialogue. I will tell you the Assembly will have a bill for Wednesday.”
The distance between the Senate president’s office and the Assembly speaker’s office is about eight feet, but after the battle of words this week, that distance has never seemed wider.
Related: EXCLUSIVE: Speaker Prieto Holds Democratic Caucus in Latest Atlantic City Compromise Bill Bid