I'm going to put this as simply as I can: the time has come for our state senators to knock off the silliness and get to work.

It's bad enough that the Senate has been at a standstill, held hostage by a leadership dispute, for the past two weeks - typically one of the busiest times of the legislative session. Now the Senate has descended into farce. Each faction - the Democrats on one side and the Republicans plus Democratic defector Pedro Espada on the other - held its own session yesterday, each offering some half-baked rationale to back up the validity of their votes.

The factions may profess profound certainty about their actions, but nobody else knows if legislation passed during yesterday's session is truly valid.

Paterson is right to call the Senate in for extraordinary sessions, with agendas set by him, until they come together and pass non-controversial legislation. For as long as the senators are caught up in their leadership skirmish, they should also accept an independent presiding officer. Someone in the state must be qualified for the task.

Meanwhile, Empire State Pride Agenda and Human Rights Campaign are calling for the Senate to take up marriage equality legislation this week. And Paterson has it at the top of his agenda for today. It's impossible to predict how that will turn out - it's uncertain whether there are enough votes to pass it in the entire Senate, even without the current divisions.