During our campaign interviews over the past few years, some state legislators have insisted that the Brennan Report had it all wrong. New York's state legislature isn't dysfunctional at all, they said.

Well....

Well....

Words fail.

The needs of the state's children, the state's workers, its cities, its businesses, its taxpayers: all are in the hands of geniuses who, last week, flexed their muscles by turning off lights and locking the doors of the Senate chamber, fought over the allegiance of a senator who has been indicted for slashing his girlfriend with a broken glass, and named as Senate president a man who is under investigation by both the state attorney general and the Bronx district attorney.

The Republican coup was engineered by our very own Tom Golisano - the "rogue billionaire," as the Times put it - who, having spent part of his vast fortune trying unsuccessfully to get himself elected governor, and, more recently, spent part of his vast fortune helping Democrats take control of the Senate, turned around and plotted with the Republicans to help them regain control (miffed, the media reported, because in a recent meeting the Democrats' Senate leader found his BlackBerry more interesting than the rogue billionaire).

The news media have struggled to report on this mess, and not just because of the comic absurdity of it all. It is that, seriously, words fail.

Reporters couldn't legitimately refer to senators' claims of "reform," because that word implies that the senators were acting in the public interest.

Leadership and titles seemed to change by the minute. Liz Benjamin of the Daily News resorted to the phrase "purported leaders."

The New York Post splashed a picture of a clown face on the cover of its June 10 edition - and sent a clown into the Capitol in Albany.

Words fail.

It would be one thing if Albany's paralysis were caused by something substantive: workers' rights, school funding, health-care coverage. But what we've been witnessing is a fight for political power, pure and simple. And it is nothing new.

It's tempting to blame voters for sending the same folks back to Albany election after election. But for years, New York Republicans and Democrats have divvied up the state's legislative bodies, gerrymandering legislative districts to give Republicans safe seats in the Senate and Democrats safe seats in the Assembly, protecting incumbents.

Compounding that problem: Majority legislators in each house get far more "member item" money to hand out at home than minority legislators do. Case in point: Rochester's Jim Alesi, a Republican, says that as part of the Senate majority last year, he had about $2.5 million in member item money. This year? If he ends up being in the minority, he'll get about $250,000.

An incumbent who acts like Santa Claus can buy a lot of good will - and free advertising. Among the beneficiaries of Alesi's member item money, for instance, is Rochester's Jazz Festival. In return, every year Alesi gets profuse, public thanks from the stage at the beginning of each concert.

Also a problem: campaign donations, which not only influence elected officials' votes but also keep those officials in office. Incumbents aren't about to change that.

In 1997, New Yorkers had a chance at real reform when we voted on a proposal to hold a constitutional convention. Among the important issues a convention could have dealt with: having a non-partisan group draw legislative district lines.

Then, as now, New Yorkers widely viewed their state government as a mess. But we rejected the constitutional convention. And here we are, nearly 12 years later, with government brought to a standstill and adults running around turning off lights and fighting over keys and engaging in a tug-of-war over a guy who has been indicted for slashing his girlfriend with a broken glass.

Words fail.

"I hope those people are ashamed of themselves," one of our staff said on Tuesday morning.

Not a chance.