Reid Pillifant Reports: State Senator Greg Ball believes his friends in the Tea Party would rather see the kind of bipartisan compromise forged by Andrew Cuomo in Albany than the firebrand opposition of the House Republicans in Washington.
“From a leadership perspective, it’s apparent that President Obama lacks the leadership skills of Andrew Cuomo,” Ball told me in a phone call this afternoon. “And it’s also apparent that the congressional Republicans have individual members that are more intent on blowing up the process, as opposed to our conference in the Republican [State] Senate, where we’re focused on moving the state forward through less taxes, bipartisan leadership, even if that means compromise.”
Ball, an outspoken ideological conservative and self-proclaimed Tea Partier who proudly calls the group his political base, was reacting to yesterday’s vote by House Republicans to reject an extension of the payroll tax cut that had already passed the Senate by a vote of 89-10. The vote puts the payroll tax cut in jeopardy, since Senate Democrats have already vowed not to return to session before the cut expires on January 1.
