It was mostly routine testimony yesterday, when Rockland leaders of nonprofits, local business owners, school officials and elected officials spoke at a public hearing on the Gov. David Paterson’s proposed 2009-10 state budget. Here’s the news coverage.

The hearing was sponsored and attended by the “Hudson Valley” delegation: State Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City; Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City; and Assemblywomen Nancy Calhoun, R-Blooming Grove; Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern; and Annie Rabbit, R-Greenwood Lake. They wanted to hear local priorities, and they did. There was concern expressed about school aid cuts and health care cuts, and lots of nodding in agreement. This year’s state budget plan, most often described as “Draconian,” has stirred much concern, frustration and plain old hand-wringing.

But there was one light moment: Greg Julian, who ran on the Democratic ticket against Morahan last fall, came to the podium. The Democratic Party activist and poly sci professor at Pace U. smiled as he made a pitch for Morahan to join the Democratic majority that just took over the Senate. Morahan looked a little shocked, and made no response. Julian pointed out that so many Democrats already vote for Morahan (he oughtta know, in November, Morahan topped Julian by more than 30,000 votes in the Rockland portion of the 38th District, which includes all of this county and the towns of Tuxedo and Warwick in Orange County.) I guess Julian’s put a twist on “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” and made it, “If you can’t beat ‘em, get them to join you.”

After the session, I asked Morahan is there was a chance I would need to practice typing “D-New City” after his name. Uh, no. He admitted Julian’s idea threw him a bit, but he shrugged and saw the humor. Morahan noted that he did just fine passing legislation (and “getting things done”) when he was in the minority in the Assembly. I asked how things had changed, and he said he’s found a lot of cooperation and is still able to get bills out of committee (including a bill add PTSD to Timothy’s Law, which pushes for mental health insurance coverage parity.) He admitted he now has a smaller office, on a lower floor, and his parking spot is a little farther away. And, no, he’s never been in the “Brunomobile” nor seen it, nor knew anything about it.