I found this narrative, on one of the message boards, and asked for permission to run it. I think it does well, describing the feeling at the county leg meeting on Tuesday night. It illustrates, quiet nicely the attitude of dominance/superiority which the Republican Legislators exude. The writer was having none of it, though:

I was nearly the last to leave the building, having loitered to talk
with a reporter who was waiting to speak to one of the Legislators.
The elevators were turned off, and much of the Republican caucus
walked down the same staircase I did. I was parked off Broad
street, so at the bottom of the stairs, I turned to exit the back of
the County Office Building.

The President of the Legislature, Mr. Zyra, who was clearly intent on
using the same exit, looked at me and said, “you’ll have to go out
that way,” pointing to the Main Street doors.

I said, “But my car is that way, and it’s cold out there.”

Mr. Zyra repeated, “you’ll have to go out the other way.”

I remember how long it took my feet to warm up from the walk in, in
my hen-skin dress shoes, and I looked at his feet. He wore goulashes
over his shoes. “You have better shoes than I do…”

Mr. Zyra, “that’s nice, you’ll have to go out that way.”

I raised my voice a bit, “This is a public building. If you can go
out that exit then so can I.” But the raising of my voice attracted
several of the two dozen police officers in the lobby. I immediately
recognized that it was a mistake to raise my voice, but I also
realized something else. “Are you afraid of me?” I asked.

“No I’m not, but you aren’t going out this way.” Two policemen stood
between us, so I suppose he felt confident enough to turn away.

One of the police officers suggested that he could escort me to my
car. I repeated that it was cold outside, than my car was parked on
Broad Street, and if I had to leave through the front door, that
would prolong my stay in the cold, and I prefer to walk through to
the back of the building. By this time, Mr Zyra had crossed the
atrium and was exiting the back door. The officer said, “oh, I
didn’t understand, I see now.”

He smiled. I laughed. “He is safely out of the building, so if you
would like to walk me to my car, I’m going that way,” pointing toward
Broad Street. It was clear that he was perfectly willing to
accommodate me, now that Mr. Zyra was “out of range”.

So the police officer and I, I don’t know his name, and he doesn’t
know mine, walked to my car on Broad Street, about the width of the
street behind Mr. Zyra as he walked to his car, parked in the parking
garage at the Public Safety Building. Who can accuse the police
officer of subverting the will of the President of the Legislature,
since no one knows his name? But Mr. Zyra should know what happens
when his back is turned. The people who are obliged to enforce his
edicts tonight wish they didn’t have to. Mr. Zyra, puppet playing
the part of dictator, should know.

So, drunk with power, and with no idea how to crawl back up on the wagon, the Republican Legislators in Monroe County continue to disregard their constituency and harbor illusions of grandeur, where their s*** doesn’t stink, and ours does.

(Stay tuned for more episodes of, “As the Elephant Defecates”……)