In electoral politics, to the victor go the spoils. But some go to unreasonable lengths to enjoy the spoils of their electoral victories.

Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, recently exhorted Democrats in the Assembly to include Republicans on a cyberbullying task force. The group would have included five appointees by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and two each by Senate and Assembly leadership.

When Goodell asked Assemblywoman Didi Barrett, sponsor of the bill, why Republicans had been left off the task force, Barrett said there was representation from the Assembly, Senate and governor’s office and no more members were needed.

“So my question, again, is why do we not have an appointment from the minority leader in each house as well?” Goodell asked.

“Because elections have consequences,” Barrett responded.

What a bunch of poppycock. Elections mean a party has the right to lead and set a direction, not completely disregard anyone with differing viewpoints. Such winner-takes-all politics permeates federal and state politics to the detriment of the residents on whose behalf elected politicians are supposed to be working. Barrett’s caustic statement on the Assembly floor is no different than President Barack Obama, President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden governing through executive order because, as President Obama said in 2010 to Republican Congress members, “Elections have consequences.”

In fairness, not all Democrats are as caustic as Barrett. A similar situation popped up in the state Senate just last week over an Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board, but Sen. Liz Krueger, D-New York City, responded to Republican Sen. Tom O’Mara’s complaint about a lack of minority party inclusion on the board by asking Sen. Gustavo Rivera, D-Bronx, to take O’Mara’s request under advisement. Krueger toes the party line on many issues but has also shown herself to be the type of politician who tries to work with Republicans rather than simply disregard them.

But the sheer fact that two such examples have cropped up within days of each other is concerning. Elections have consequences, but one of those consequences shouldn’t mean disenfranchising wide swaths of the state because those residents elected a Republican instead of a Democrat. It’s not as if adding two Republicans to a nine- or 11-member task force changes much, but at least then interested Republicans have a chance to serve.

Republicans haven’t always behaved well, and we’re sure Democrats have had more than their fill of the GOP’s constant efforts to end Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive power, the GOP’s hammering of Democrats over how COVID was handled in nursing homes and countless other partisan attacks.

In the end, it takes two to tango.