Coup in Albany: What Does It All Mean?

I'm not clear on why the primary reporting on the Republican coup that just seized control of the state senate from the Democrats is being reported nearly exclusively as a gay marriage thing.  Yes, I understand that this is a blow to gay marriage, but it has a lot of implications for the state on spending, rent control, and any of a number of other issues--you may have heard that they're having something of a financial crisis.



Nor does gay marriage seem to me to have been driving their switch.  The two Democrats who crossed over to vote their party out of control are neutral-to-supportive on gay marriage; what they really have in common is that they are both under a legal cloud.  Since they both come from safe Democratic districts, the party leadership had no need to stand behind them, and they've been fighting for more support from the leaders for a while.  Tom Golisano, who seems to have orchestrated the coup, isn't so much a social conservative as a pro-business guy; he's part of a "good government" coalition that has been building up in Western New York for quite some time, trying to topple the heavy taxation and regulation imposed by downstate, which they believe cripples the upstate economy.  Whatever his personal views on gay marriage, I don't see it being his primary motivation.

You've got internicene warfare among a suddenly ascendant party, and a state in chaos.  Gay marriage will undoubtedly be affected by this, but it's not obvious to me that it's the main story.  So what am I missing?