June 24, 2008 2:30 PM

Whither New York?

Our friend Mr. Sirota has a new diary today about the topic that's on just about everyone's mind where I work in NYC: what's going to happen now that stalwart Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno is on the way out?

If you want to catch the most up-to-date dirt on the shady FBI investigation subplot to Bruno's exit or the swirling gossip around his likely successor, be sure to check out the Albany Project, which, as always, are keeping it on lock when it comes to tracking even the smallest minutiae of New York State politics.

However, if, like David, you agree that Bruno's exit is a major opportunity for progressives to make a national impact through state-level, then you'll want to do a little more than that. The most important question to be asking right now is not when or why or how Mr. Bruno is leaving but rather what exactly a newly emboldened New York progressive caucus in the New York legislature should do once he does.

For starters, they should move more aggressively on the agenda of affordable health care, green jobs, paid family leave, and a fairer tax system that the New York Working Families Party has been pushing for the last few years with increasing success. They should push forward on even more proactive measures to address the foreclosure crisis than the compromise deal currently on the table: measures that would send a message to the rest of the nation that even Wall Street's own back yard is up to the challenge of putting serious regulatory constraints on predatory lenders and of offering relief to average families rather than investment bankers. Then they should sit down and think seriously about how to work closely with other progressive states in the region like New Jersey and Massachusetts about how to build a state policy platform that can push the national debate. They could start by taking a cue from New Jersey with its recent passage of National Popular Vote legislation (not to mention the aforementioned paid family leave).

Of course, all the talk right now is swirling around who's in who's out and how this will affect the Democrat's chances of re-taking the Senate next year. But if this truly golden opportunity for progressive change is going to turn into anything more than the latest in a series of party power grabs, we've got to think about it from a broader perspective. As the last two years in D.C. have so woefully proven, a Democratic House or Senate hardly equates to a progressive majority. This state needs to use this opportunity to renew its focus on the policies and the ideas that will move us forward into a more progressive national leadership position. Otherwise it doesn't much matter who's in the driver's seat.