A billionaire’s coup in Albany, N.Y.

It was a coup. Even the New York Times, one of the most influential and authoritative voices of the ruling class in the United States, used this word to describe how the Republican Party, with two disaffected Democrats, tried to seize control of the New York State Senate on June 8.

A week later, the issue of who controls the Senate is still not settled. However, the leading role of Thomas Golisano, a billionaire from Rochester, in organizing and financing this coup is clear.

According to a number of newspapers in New York, Albany and Buffalo, the plotting for the coup began with a secret meeting between Steve Pigeon, Golisano’s top political adviser, and Republican Senators George D. Maziarz, Tom Libous and Dean Skelos, the Republican leader, at a rock club in Albany.

After a preliminary agreement was reached, the Republican leaders met with Golisano at his Rochester home and the plot was sealed.

Pigeon and Golisano were in the Senate balcony when the vote occurred.

Golisano is no stranger to politics. He spent $93 million of his own money running for governor of New York in 1994, 1998 and 2002 as candidate of the Independence Party. He gave the Democrats $4 million to run their 2008 campaign, which wrested control of the State Senate from the Republicans.

Under the pressure of the economic and budget crises, however, the Democrats passed a budget in March that didn’t cut spending and slash public services, as Golisano had wanted. Instead, it raised taxes somewhat on the rich. Golisano’s reaction was to move his official residence to Florida and issue a statement saying the move would save him $5 million a year.

Most of the articles and media coverage about the struggle in the Senate have focused on skullduggery, maneuvering and attacks on the individuals involved. When Golisano was asked about the legal problems of the two Democrats whom he had helped strong-arm to switch over and support the Republicans, he replied with a personal attack on President Barack Obama. One of the Democrats has since switched back.

The real political issue is how the state of New York is going to respond to the current capitalist financial and economic crisis.

The Republican approach, which billionaire Golisano clearly expressed in a May 26 interview with the Niagara Falls Reporter, is to slash spending, which would mean cutting social services, aid to education and public transportation and funds for the cities, especially New York. There is a Republican bill to weaken rent control in order to protect landlords and the big real estate interests. They would also deny farm workers the protection of labor laws that mandate overtime pay and lunch breaks and are bitterly opposed by agribusiness. Domestic workers would also be shut out from the protection, such as it is, of labor law.

The Democrats say it is important to maintain government spending to help stimulate the economy, especially since the state of New York has a $131 billion budget. They are concerned about alienating their political base among the poor and workers, but are also pressuring the unions to take cuts.

For example, Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat, used the threat of laying off 8,000 state workers to get the unions representing them to agree to reduced pensions. This won’t save the state money in the short run but will down the road. The State Senate has to approve the deal but has not because of the deadlock.

California, Michigan, Illinois and many other states are feeling the lash of the economic crisis, but it is in New York where disunity and disagreement in the ruling class parties is the most open.