Behavior Costs State Senator a Leadership Role in Albany
By JONATHAN P. HICKS, NY TIMES, August 3, 2004

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After months of criticism and accusations of erratic behavior, State Senator Ada L. Smith of Queens was stripped yesterday of her party leadership position in the Senate.

The move to remove Ms. Smith as chairwoman of the Senate's Democratic conference followed several years in which she had skirmishes with the police and faced accusations that she verbally abused staff members.

In losing her leadership role, Ms. Smith also loses out on the $16,500 she earned each year in addition to her annual State Senate salary of $79,500.

The decision to remove Ms. Smith from her leadership post was a particularly ticklish one for the Senate minority leader, David A. Paterson. Mr. Paterson has been working to keep Democratic senators loyal at a time when the Republican majority has been wooing them with promises that they will have more clout siding with the Senate's dominant party.

Ms. Smith is the Senate's third-ranking Democrat, after Mr. Paterson and Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, the deputy minority leader. She did not respond to telephone calls to her office yesterday afternoon asking for comment on Senator Paterson's action.

Over the years, Ms. Smith has been involved in several controversies, including an accusation, six years ago, that she bit a police officer as he tried to arrest her in Brooklyn, and accusations that she does not live in the district she represents.

This year, Senator Smith was convicted of disobeying a state police officer and speeding through a security checkpoint in a parking garage in Albany. The Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, met with Mr. Paterson in recent weeks suggesting that the Democratic leader take some action against her.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Paterson said that Mr. Bruno had placed no pressure on him, and he added that Ms. Smith "has been as good a personal friend as I have anywhere." But he said that he had become troubled by "the volume of these complaints.''

"And what I have found somewhat disturbing is that I don't recognize any contrition on her part," he said.

Mr. Paterson added: "There does come a point when the person involved has to take some responsibility. I'm going to insist that there is a proper decorum around here."

Ms. Smith has earned a reputation for being somewhat volatile, mostly with staff members. Most recently, a former staff member accused her of making antigay remarks at him. Ms. Smith vehemently denied those accusations. The former staff member, Wayne Mahlke, filed a complaint alleging abuse and discrimination based on his sexual orientation with the State Division of Human Rights, which is investigating.

Ms. Smith is also known among colleagues in Albany for her high attendance rate and her committee work on education, criminal justice and women's health issues.