July 6 (Bloomberg) -- New York Governor David Paterson and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli asked a state court today for permission to withhold Senate pay as an impasse over control of the chamber entered its 29th day.

DiNapoli’s office filed a request in state Supreme Court in Albany seeking a ruling on whether the executive branch can halt lawmakers’ paychecks, Paterson’s spokesman Morgan Hook said. Annual base pay for senators is $79,500, plus travel expenses.

“The governor’s position is that they have abdicated their responsibility,” Marissa Shorenstein, another Paterson spokesman, said yesterday. “We’re asking for a direct ruling on whether it’s right or wrong for them to get paid.”

No hearing date has been set, according to Hook.

The Senate met for less than five minutes in a special session Paterson ordered and adjourned without considering or voting upon legislation. It has been locked in a stalemate since June 8, when two Democrats joined with Republicans to wrest control of the chamber from the Democrats, who outnumbered Republicans 32-30.

The Senate, now tied 31 to 31 after one of the Democrats returned to the fold, has met every day since the U.S. Independence Day weekend after Paterson called them into a series of special sessions.

A pay freeze would follow previous moves by Paterson and DiNapoli withholding 250 vouchers submitted by legislators totaling $560,000 in travel and other expenses and the governor’s call for DiNapoli to block direct deposit of their paychecks.

Three-Minute Meeting

“I don’t think it’s within his constitutional rights to hold pay,” Senator Jeffrey Klein, a Democrat from the Bronx, said following a three-minute Senate meeting late yesterday. “The best thing the governor can do is get us to negotiate.”

Also today, Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause, a good-government group, said a provision in state law gives the governor power to appoint a lieutenant governor to fill a vacancy. A lieutenant governor would preside over the Senate, ending the argument over who holds that leadership position, she said.

At a news conference in the Capitol, joined by Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, a Queens Democrat, and Dick Dadey, executive director of the Citizens Union, a private, nonprofit government watchdog, Lerner said she discussed appointing a lieutenant governor with Paterson several weeks ago and cited provisions of Section 43 of the Public Offices Law.

Attorney General’s ‘No’

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo rejected the overture, saying a state constitutional provision giving the temporary Senate president “all the duties of the lieutenant governor” would supersede the statute.

“Contrary to the proponents’ goal, we believe it would not provide long-term political stability but rather the opposite, by involving the governor in a political ploy that would wind through the courts for many months,” Cuomo said in an e-mailed statement.

Paterson acknowledged meeting with the advocates, saying, “I look forward to working with these groups and others to find a way to end the stalemate and get the Senate back to work.”

Senate Democrats will await the ruling before determining whether to mount a legal challenge, their spokesman, Austin Shafran, said.

Republicans have disputed Democrats’ right to chair Senate sessions, claiming the authority for themselves after a June 8 vote electing Republican Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre, Long Island, majority leader and Senator Pedro Espada, a Bronx Democrat, as president.

New York City

“I don’t think it’s helpful,” Espada said in an interview about the attempted pay freeze. “The constitution is clear. They can’t touch our pay.”

Scott Reif, a spokesman for Skelos, declined to comment.

The stalemate has prevented the chamber from passing legislation, including a bill extending New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s control over the city’s public schools.

The city has lost $60 million in revenue from the Senate’s inaction on a half-percent sales tax increase and business tax changes and could lose as much as $900 million if the chamber fails to act altogether, Bloomberg said.

The city has instituted an immediate hiring freeze and a review of all contracts with independent agencies to save money in light of the Senate stalemate, he said.

The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News’s parent, Bloomberg LP.

Municipalities Lose

The state has lost $1.03 billion and local governments have lost $741 million, DiNapoli said in the statement.

Espada, who has sided with Republicans in the battle, said both parties are nearing an agreement to settle the dispute over Senate control. He declined to describe elements of an accord.

Republicans sought a settlement last week that would last through the November 2010 elections, while Democrats wanted one that covered only a few days.

New York state may miss $699 million of additional federal funds for educating the disabled, according to DiNapoli. It also needs a law allowing its housing finance authority to sell an additional $500 million of bonds, DiNapoli said.

The comptroller has said that if state tax collections continue below projections, as they were the first two months of the fiscal year that began April 1, the $131.9 billion budget lawmakers passed will have to be modified.

To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Albany, New York, at tdopp@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 6, 2009 17:15 EDT