It is happening again.
When New York's political leaders want something, want it badly, to get it they often have to persuade, coerce or lure the state's enigmatic Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, into a deal.
The routine is often the same: the leaders courting Mr. Silver voice confidence of prevailing, his camp protests that his objections are being dismissed out of hand, and they ultimately find Mr. Silver to be an elusive partner, delaying, extracting concessions, not revealing his bottom line until the last possible moment.
That pattern, established over more than a decade of fights over state budgets, rent laws and mass-transit capital plans, is being acted out again on a grand stage, as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. George E. Pataki try to win approval for the mayor's vision of a stadium and a thicket of office towers on Manhattan's West Side. As a crucial vote on the stadium loomed yesterday, Mr. Silver hinted that if forced to choose he would veto the plan. Faced with his resistance, the other side blinked, the deadline was pushed back and the talks continued.
The outlines of Mr. Silver's demands have been clear for months - though what precisely it will take to win him over remains far murkier. He wants a stronger city and state commitment to the stalled development of downtown Manhattan - especially the World Trade Center site, in his district - which he sees as more pressing than the West Side. And he wants to be sure that West Side development does not become so attractive that builders and tenants turn their backs on downtown.
"We're talking about the impact of the proposal to build 24 million square feet of office space in Midtown at a time when we are all committed to redeveloping downtown, and what kind of competition that would create, and how, if it's possible, to do that," Mr. Silver said at a news conference yesterday with the governor.
The problem, he and people close to him have argued, is that his concerns have not been taken seriously enough until the last few days - a claim that is disputed both in the governor's office and at City Hall.
That Mr. Silver has once again emerged as the pivotal figure in a divisive battle is no surprise; though he is just one of 150 Assembly members, including 65 from the city, he is also one of the troika of officials who control state government, along with the governor and the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno.
As the lone Democrat in that group, he often uses his enormous clout to block the other two - a source of endless frustration for Mr. Pataki and relief to his Democratic colleagues. But in this case, Mr. Bruno has joined the speaker in voicing reservations about the West Side plan, and Mr. Pataki and Mr. Bloomberg need to gain his vote, too.
His tactics reflect the guarded style and shrewd politicking of Albany's ultimate inside player. His colleagues often say that they have little idea what Mr. Silver is thinking - a great strength in negotiating and balancing competing demands within the Democratic conference, some say, and, according to others, an infuriating sign of evasiveness.
Mr. Silver has played things so close to the vest that fellow Assembly members in favor of the stadium plan and opposed to it express equal assurance that in his heart of hearts, he is on their side. He remains little known to the wider public even after 12 years in power, and though he is relaxed, confident and persuasive in small groups, he tends to be uncomfortable and stiff in front of large audiences and television cameras.
If he uses his powers to stall and say no to the hilt, they are often the only powers he has as Albany's odd man out - a Democrat lined up against a Republican governor, a Republican majority in the state Senate and a Republican mayor. "That's the control he has over things, and he understands that and he's very skillful at it, and it doesn't work if you give your position away," said Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol of Brooklyn, who opposes the stadium plan.
Mr. Bloomberg has ardently courted the speaker, even attending the circumcision of his grandson, and building a relationship far warmer and more cooperative than the ones Mr. Silver has had with either Mr. Pataki or Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. And in recent weeks, the mayor and governor have pledged a number of measures Mr. Silver wanted in his district, from school construction and tax breaks for businesses to altered traffic patterns.
But people close to Mr. Silver say he has been put off by the suggestion that his vote on the West Side plan can be bought by lavishing money on his district rather than by a serious debate about Manhattan's future.
Edward Skyler, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, said there was no intention to diminish Mr. Silver's demands. "The mayor has always been very responsive to the speaker's concerns," he said.
Politically, Mr. Silver answers to two small constituencies - his Lower Manhattan district and the Assembly Democrats - and he probably has little cause to worry about whatever decision he makes. Polls show the public is not enthusiastic about the stadium, after months of negative advertising by opponents.
Many city Assembly members support the plan, especially minority members - one of Mr. Silver's bases of support - who see it as a source of jobs. But they also understand his concern over Lower Manhattan. Many downstate lawmakers oppose the plan just as vehemently.