Is there anybody in the New York State Senate Republican leadership that has any common sense at all ?

State Senator Carl Marcellino, who chairs the Senate Investigations and Government Operations Committee, says that there is  a possibility of a probe into Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of the Moreland Commission

BUT THEN  --  Marcellino added that it’s likely that his committee will wait until a federal prosecutor’s investigations involving the Moreland Commission have been  "resolved"

All Marcellino's talk about " batting around" the idea of another Moreland investigation by a GOP-led  State Senate Committee shows that somebody has bats in their belfry

 

Talking to reporters at the Gannett Albany Bureau,  State Senator Carl L. Marcellino said his committee will most likely examine the governor's handling of the Moreland Commission and issue recommendations on how to improve the Moreland Act, a 1907 law Cuomo used to create the now-defunct Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, but only after U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s work is complete ( See "Senate Investigations Chairman on Cuomo probe: 'We’ve batted it around' ” by Jon Campbell,  7/31/14, lohud blogs/ Politics on the Hudson [http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2014/07/31/senate-investigations-chairman-on-cuomo-probe-weve-batted-it-around/]).

According to the Gannet story by Jon Campbell,  "Marcellino, a Nassau County Republican, acknowledged having discussions with Senate staff members over the possibility of launching its own probe now, as Cuomo continues to face questions about claims his office temporarily curtailed subpoenas from the Moreland Commission to his allies.  Here's how Jon Campbell quoted State Senator Marcellino:  "Yeah, we’ve batted it around to see if there was something there we could help with or get involved with....   But right now, you’ve got the U.S. Attorney doing his thing and subpoenaing everybody under the sun and making his investigation, and frankly we’ve looked at it and we don’t see anything that we would be doing that would add to that or wouldn’t inhibit or interfere with it. We don’t want to do that.”    -- A little circular and very pointless, don't you think !

Interestingly, one other reporter picked up this story and tweaked it slightly like this:  " Carl Marcellino, a Long Island Republican who chairs the State Senate's investigations committee, rather than pouncing [on Governor Cuomo], says he is still batting around the idea of a probe...." (See "Moreland mess erodes Cuomo’s fear factor" by Jimmy Vielkind, 8/1/14,  Capital  [http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/08/8550051/moreland-mess-erodes-cuomos-fear-factor] with a link to the Gannet report by Jon Campbell cited above).  Jimmy V knows the goings-on in Albany pretty well, so when he says  "...Marcellino... is still batting around the idea of a probe...."  it means the reporter remembers that this stuff has been batted around by the Chairman of the State Senate's Investigations and Government Operations Committee before or possibly earlier during the current brouhaha.