Is Golisano coming or going?

Billionaire and NY political gadfly Tom Golisano has had a weird couple of weeks. First he declares that he’s quitting the Empire state for low-tax Florida.

Then he helps engineer one of the most dramatic political coups Albany has ever seen, upending last November’s election (which Democrats won) and installing a Republican-led coalition in the state Senate.

The New York Times explored Mr. Golisano’s motives and produced this:

Mr. Golisano, a billionaire business executive, had spent heavily to help [Democratic leader Malcolm] Smith and other Democrats win control of the Senate in the November election, and was angry to hear they were now planning to raise taxes on the wealthy. He expected an audience befitting a major financial patron.

Instead, he said, Mr. Smith played with his BlackBerry and seemed to barely listen. “I said, ‘I’m talking to the wall here,’ ” Mr. Golisano recalled in an interview on Tuesday.

There’s nothing entirely new here. Wealthy people have paid for political access and influence since, well, Plymouth Rock.

But here we have it on full display, articulated openly: Mr. Golisano paid for the government he wanted, didn’t like the results, then helped engineer another change.

No one can have been much impressed with Sen. Smith’s leadership in recent months; or with David Paterson’s helmsmanship.

But Golisano’s string-pulling leaves me a little squeamish. What do you think? Is the former New Yorker playing the role of activist citizen or meddling political don?