The inside story of one of the country's most secretive and misruled statehouses by a former New York State senator;. "Democracy takes decades to take root and flourish. New York is learning that it takes just three men in a room to maim and seriously harm a vigorous and representative system of government."-from Three Men in a Room It might be a scene from a movie: three powerful and secretive men sit in a private corner of an exclusive New York club, imperiously making decisions that affect the lives of millions of people. But the scene takes place in Albany, New York, and the exclusive members are the governor, the senate majority leader, and the speaker of the assembly of the New York State legislature. Three Men in a Room is an insider's exposé of how one of the country's largest and most powerful governments-with the fourth-largest budget, behind only the federal government's, California's, and Texas's-has become a model of corrupt, inefficient, and undemocratic governance. Seymour Lachman ran the New York City Board of Education, taught political science, and was then elected to New York's legislature. What he found when he arrived in the halls of the state senate was a Potemkin village of government where legislators vote on bills they haven't read during legislative sessions they haven't attended. After four terms, Lachman left his safe seat in disgust, and has now written this sharp, mordant, and impassioned call for reform. Although Lachman's story takes place in one of the country's most progressive states, the problems described in this book are rampant in statehouses throughout the country.

The paper examines how the phrase "three men in a room" came to be associated with the operation of New York State government.

Three Men and a Maid is a classic humorous story by P.G. Wodehouse.The maid of the title is red-haired, dog-loving Wilhelmina "Billie" Bennet, and the three men are Bream Mortimer, a long-time friend and admirer of Billie, Eustace Hignett, a lily-livered poet who is engaged to Billie at the opening of the tale, and Sam Marlowe, Eustace's dashing cousin, who falls for Billie at first sight.The four of them find themselves together on a White Star ocean liner called the Atlantic, sailing for England. Also on board is a capable young woman, Jane Hubbard, who is in love with Eustace. Wodehousian funny stuff ensues, with happy endings for all except Bream Mortimer.The White Star Line had a ship called the Atlantic, which operated from 1871 to 1873, when it struck a rock off Nova Scotia and sank with the loss of about 535 lives. As this disaster occurred 48 years before the publishing of the story, and 8 years before Wodehouse was born, it is unlikely that he knew about it.